Minority Report style iris scanning already in Mexico

http://gizmodo.com/5615901/the-end-of-privacy-has-started-in-the-city-of-leon

 

I had no idea this was being used for the general populace yet. That's unnerving to hear. The rough thing about this tech is that its' indeed extremely easy to implement and its use can spread rapidly. Whether 10 years is enough to cover the planet, I am not sure of. I say that only in regards to the politics of it and the various court issues that would inevitably come up. All that being said, governments have thumbed their nose at court rulings before, so, there you go. 10 years may be a bit too soon, 20 shouldn't be a problem at all.

 

Read Bruce Schneier on that. Anywhere I control the interface, I can present whatever biometric ID I desire. It might be yours Or vice versa. Once your retina scan has been cloned, you're hosed. And even in public, you could wear one-way mirrored contacts with fake iris images printed on the outside. Someone should patent that

 

I'm sure it won't be long before this type of scanning is introduced in Juarez, at the behest of the USCBP. Can't have El Paso lose its status as the US's third safest city.

How's this for scary?

Border between Arizona & Mexico - no prizes for guessing US & Mexican side of border...

 

Where are the razor wire, electric fencing and guard towers with rifles at? Those would be on my to-do list. Sorry for my hard line, but here in the U.S we are WAY past the point of being able to be lenient.

 

I was really hoping this would've stayed fiction.

As for the Border fences, maybe Mexico will place trampolines across the length.
The ones similar to those used at an NBA game at half time. One every hundred yards.
It would make for great TV from the Border cameras. Some people just won't make it over well.

 

Not sure how important retinal scans would be in a public place. There is much discussion about false positives but I can't find anything about failed scans. Sure this thing can scan lots of people but how many scans are successful? If I were expecting one of these things to be scanning me in a public place I would walk with my eyes pointed at the ground or up at the ceiling.

Now as far as retinal scanning goes, it is the ultimate best biometric we have. A secure retinal scan would include a refractive test as well as the response of the iris to a pulse of light. Contacts with retinal patterns would fail. Also, (pardon the yuck factor...) an eyeball that was removed from the owner would fail.

 

No need to apologise for taking a hard line. Re-reading what I wrote, it didn't come out the way I intended it to. If I lived in El Paso or Nogales etc. I'd want ultimate security from all the illegals/drug dealing scum etc trying to get across the border. I guess the key problems are a a weak and corrupt Mexican government combined with murderous Mexican drug cartels desperate to maintain their lucrative 'trade'. The age old problem of supply and demand. How it's solved is not an easy question. Anyways I'm getting way off track here...

 

I have good friends in Mexico. Ten years ago, they called me paranoid for being afraid to visit. Now they don't It's almost a failed state, IMHO. The last straw was shifting the S-N drug trade there from the Caribbean. It's abject fear that drives projects like public iris scanning -- and it may be coming to your neighborhood.

 

Well the UK already has 4 million CCTV cameras, ostensibly to fight crime, terrorism etc etc. All very disturbing...