Tana Ganeva reports:
The FBI claims that their fingerprint database (IAFIS) is the “largest biometric database in the world,” containing records for over a hundred million people. But that’s nothing compared to the agency’s plans for Next Generation Identification (NGI), a massive, billion-dollar upgrade that will hold iris scans, photos searchable with face recognition technology, palm prints, and measures of gait and voice recordings alongside records of fingerprints, scars, and tattoos.
Read more on AlterNet. One of the questions I have reading it is whether under “Rap-Back,” employers will have to inform job applicants that not only are they requiring a fingerprint as part of a criminal background check, but that fingerprint will remain on file with the FBI. And what happens if the applicant doesn’t get the job? Is there any mechanism for individuals to get their fingerprint(s) out of that database? And as part of that system, does the applicant understand that their fingerprint can be used for purposes other than their job application? Oh yeah, I have questions….