IHF Roundup: Chicago Bolsters Virtual Shield, Biometrics Invade Hospitals and Other Top Stories This Week

We're almost into March, officially "Fraud Prevention Month" in Canada and the US, and lots of security initiatives seem to be popping up in the headlines.

Chicago's Virtual Shield project received a $6 million grant from the DHS to link the public surveillance grid to its 911 system. Definitely a step in the right direction in integrating surveillance and emergency resources.

The FBI is putting money to good use, too, with its Next Generation Identification system (NGI). A $1 billion investment over ten years, the NGI combines iris scans, facial imaging, palm prints and fingerprint identification technologies in one, multi-dimensional system. Very cool stuff.

The Korean National Police Agency (NPA) is exploring options around installing facial recognition technologies in ATMs, as part of a comprehensive public security plan to reduce crimes in the country. Should be more focused on face finding and searching technologies in order to help track down and identify suspects, but the initiative does look promising.

An expert group in Westminster pondered the installation of biometrics in the workplace this week. Airports, ATMs, hospitals, DMVs -- why not in your cubicle -- or at the cash register, for that matter? Forget about that PIN or picking up a pen at the grocery store or shopping center -- your fingerprint may be the signature of the future. Much tougher to fake a print than an illegible scribble.

On that note, this weekend, why not head out to the theaters and and see Paul Blart Mall Cop -- might not have received rave reviews, but you'll learn a thing or two about retail security.

A Billion Dollars for Biometrics

The FBI Biometric Center of Excellence is currently working on a Next Generation Identification (NGI) system that will combine iris scans, facial imaging, palm prints and fingerprint identification technologies in one, multi-dimensional system. The platform is intended to succeed the outdated Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) put in place in 1999.

The cost on this ten-year investment? A small price tag of $1 billion dollars.

Plans for NGI include increased fingerprint storage capacity and accelerated fingerprint processing times for high priority criminals, as well as the creation of a special database of names, which will include sexual offenders, wanted persons and terrorists.

"NGI will give us bigger, better, faster capabilities and lead us into the future. We have added additional capabilities to our current system, and are working with the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State, and the International law enforcement community in making our communities safer," said Thomas E. Bush, Assistant Director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division.

Of course, privacy concerns abound in relation to the amount of personal data stored and collected on average American citizens. The FBI Web site proactively addresses these concerns and notes that the NGI system refuses to expand the categories of people from whom they collect data already, but will rather collect additional data on criminals and terrorists. As Bush said, "The privacy and security of the system is extremely important and we have to ensure the relationship with privacy advocacy groups, and make sure it's not accessible to unauthorized persons."

Eternal viligance.

FBI Revealed

First the CIA starts letting journalists into its museum, then the FBI tells NPR how it goes about following people. Hey guys? Aren't you supposed to be, you know, discreet? Oh sure, you gave NPR fake names and asked them not to describe you, but explaining how a group might follow a person gives all of us some pretty good clues as to what to look for if we're ever worried we're being followed (hint: if someone in an FBI jacket is rifling through your trunk, you're probably being investigated). Are they just banking on terrorists not liking NPR?

A Camera Trained on Nothing Catches Nothing

A federal courthouse in San Diego was shut down today after a suspected pipe bomb blast exploded through its front entrance early Sunday. No one was hurt in the blast, but debris wound up on the 8th floor of the building facing the courthouse, so it was clearly not a minor explosion. Authorities are collecting evidence, but much of it is in the form of debris because, while the courthouse does have surveillance cameras, according to authorities none of those cameras are trained on the entrance door. I find that pretty amazing.

"It's too early to tell if it's terrorism-related," FBI spokesman Darrell Foxworth said about the blast. "It does not appear to be right now."

How can the FBI tell if a bomb blast is terror-related when they have no evidence at all pointing to who may have planted the bomb?

This case really underscores the importance of not just having a surveillance system but having the right system, set up correctly. Why spend money and time on surveillance cameras if they are not catching what you need? Security personnel set up surveillance systems to catch suspects in exactly these sorts of situations, when the retrieval of accurate, relevant evidence is crucial.

FBI Wants Palm Prints, Eye Scans, Tattoo Mapping

CLARKSBURG, West Virginia (CNN) -- The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists. But it's an issue that raises major privacy concerns -- what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans. The bureau is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10 year contract to help create the database that will compile an array of biometric information -- from palm prints to eye scans.

Given the recent request for a $3 trillion budget, $1 billion doesn’t seem like all that much anymore.

FBI Has It's Ways

George Christian, Executive Director of a consortium of 27 libraries, received a National Security Letter, in July of 2005 after a library patron’s online activity garnered the attention of the FBI. As a result, until recently he’s been under a strict gag order:

Christian is just one of an estimated 300,000 people who have received National
Security Letters requesting access to personal data. Phone records, Internet
usage, bank statements and telephone conversations are just some types of
information agents have gathered either through National Security Letters or
surveillance.

Interesting. And then there is this tidbit:

“I said you are asking for what we know about the user of an IP address [a
series of numbers that identifies a specific user on the Internet] for 45
minutes five months ago,” Christian said. “There’s just no way. And quite
seriously the agent looked at me said, ‘No, we have ways.’ ”