FBI's Next Generation Identification Biometrics Database
EFF has been closely following FBI's work to build out its Next Generation Identification (NGI) biometrics database. NGI expands the FBI’s IAFIS criminal and civil fingerprint database to include multimodal biometric identifiers such as iris scans, palm prints, face-recognition-ready photos, and voice data, and makes that data available to other agencies at the state and federal levels. As part of our focus on NGI, we've sent out Freedom of Information Act and Public Records Act requests to the FBI and several state agencies for information on how NGI works and how the states share data with NGI. We've also blogged and testified on facial recognition before the Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. Those records, the testimony, and the blog posts are linked below. We'll report on and post new records here as we receive them.
Updates
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The New York Times has a story out on how San Diego police use mobile facial recognition devices in the field, including potentially on non-consenting residents who aren’t suspected of a crime. One account from a retired firefighter is especially alarming:
Stopped by the police after a dispute...
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The FBI plans to roll out the face recognition component of its massive Next Generation Identification (NGI) biometrics database this summer—but the Bureau has six years of catching up to do in explaining to Americans exactly how it plans to collect, use and protect this data. Today we ...
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New documents released by the FBI show that the Bureau is well on its way toward its goal of a fully operational face recognition database by this summer.
EFF received these records in response to our Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for information on Next Generation Identification...
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Recently-released documents show that the FBI has been working since late 2011 with four states—Michigan, Hawaii, Maryland, and possibly Oregon—to ramp up the Next Generation Identification (NGI) Facial Recognition Program. When the program is fully deployed in 2014, the FBI expects its facial recognition database will...
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