FBI's New Eye Scan Database Raising Eyebrows

Slashdot writes that the FBI has confirmed to Popular Mechanics that it isn't just palm prints they're adding to criminal records. The agency is also preparing to expand its repository of photos as part of a new biometric software system that stores millions of iris scans and could be the basis of facial recognition.

The FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI) system, contracted with Lockheed Martin for $1 billion over 10 years, would create an unparalleled database of biometric markers, as with facial images and iris scans. NGI could be as useful as DNA some day. To privacy advocates, this represents a dual threat, one as advancing toward a police state and the other as a most attractive collection of personal data to be pillaged by cybercriminals.

See full article in Popular Mechanics.