"Rune" <aut### [at] runevisioncom> wrote in message
news:476e509c@news.povray.org...
>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122102
544_pf.html
>
> "The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest
> computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that
would
> give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the
> United States and abroad.

Oh my. I so want to know how they're going to store and search that volume
of data. Facial recognition is still a 'difficult' problem in AI

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Gail Shaw wrote:

> Oh my. I so want to know how they're going to store and search that volume
> of data. Facial recognition is still a 'difficult' problem in AI

Perhaps they plan to just store all this data anyway, and hope that in 
10 years' time the technology to *use* it will be invented? ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Damn. I was hoping they'd found a way to predict the future...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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"Tim Cook" wrote:
> Hello Big Brother, you say, but *I* say...it would be interesting to take 
> the data and average each set to get a composite 'American' of each 
> gender.

Yeah, for about two minutes.

Rune
-- 
http://runevision.com

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Tim Cook wrote:
> Rune wrote:
>>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122102544_pf.html

>>
>>
>> "The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's 
>> largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a 
>> project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to 
>> identify individuals in the United States and abroad.
>>
>> (...) In the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the 
>> world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars 
>> and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes 
>> and identify criminals and terrorists. The FBI will also retain, upon 
>> request by employers, the fingerprints of employees who have undergone 
>> criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if 
>> employees have brushes with the law."
>>
>> Hello Big Brother...
> 
> Hello Big Brother, you say, but *I* say...it would be interesting to 
> take the data and average each set to get a composite 'American' of each 
> gender.
> 
Yes, you would expect the average fingerprint and iris pattern to be 
flat, but may be it isn't. Could be a big leap for science.

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Tim Cook nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/12/23 07:32:
> Rune wrote:
>>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122102544_pf.html

>>
>>
>> "The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's 
>> largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a 
>> project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to 
>> identify individuals in the United States and abroad.
>>
>> (...) In the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the 
>> world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars 
>> and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes 
>> and identify criminals and terrorists. The FBI will also retain, upon 
>> request by employers, the fingerprints of employees who have undergone 
>> criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if 
>> employees have brushes with the law."
>>
>> Hello Big Brother...
> 
> Hello Big Brother, you say, but *I* say...it would be interesting to 
> take the data and average each set to get a composite 'American' of each 
> gender.
> 
You don't need that many samples to get the average figure. About 1000 randomly 
picked face shots usualy is enough. You go in each states and take a photo of 20 
random passerbys. That's for the faces. For the whole body, a sampling of about 
200 to 300 should be enough.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
If you are good, you will be assigned all the work. If you are really good, you 
will get out of it.

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"andrel" <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message

> Yes, you would expect the average fingerprint and iris pattern to be
> flat, but may be it isn't.

There are already large databases of fingerprint and iris patterns. It
doesn't take much to overlay all the fingerprint patterns there, and I'm
sure similar things have been done.

> Could be a big leap for science.

I don't see how. Does any theory depend on a particular outome?

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somebody wrote:
> "andrel" <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message
> 
>> Yes, you would expect the average fingerprint and iris pattern to be
>> flat, but may be it isn't.
> 
> There are already large databases of fingerprint and iris patterns. It
> doesn't take much to overlay all the fingerprint patterns there, and I'm
> sure similar things have been done.
> 
>> Could be a big leap for science.
> 
> I don't see how. Does any theory depend on a particular outome?
> 
It is a bit outside my field, but my guess would be: no.

FYI I tried to be sarcastic and apparently failed.

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Rune wrote:
> (...) In the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will 
> be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even 
> the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals 
> and terrorists. The FBI will also retain, upon request by employers, the 
> fingerprints of employees who have undergone criminal background checks so 
> the employers can be notified if employees have brushes with the law."


I may never have a job again, since I have a criminal background. They
might just be forcing people like me to work 'under the table' for the 
rest of our lives, because no employer will have me no matter how many 
meds I'm taking, or how much therapy I've undergone. Like the War on 
Drugs, the measures they take to fight the War on Terrorism will 
eventually bite 'them' in the ass.

Also, this little bit from the the article is somewhat disturbing:
"For the past two years, the Defense Department has been storing in a 
database images of fingerprints, irises and faces of more than 1.5 
million Iraqi and Afghan detainees, Iraqi citizens and foreigners who 
need access to U.S. military bases."

That's a large number of detainees! As my brother pointed out, most of 
these people have probably since been released, but you know that a 
large number are still in detainment. Without Due Process.

The War is making this planet too damn small :( With all the 
surveillance the government plans to have, it will seem like we're 
living in a veritable Panopticon. I don't know about you guys, but 
sometimes I like to get lost for the sake of freedom in loneliness. Or I 
like to be anonymous in a crowd, for the sense of freedom that provides. 
With the world heading the way it is, the before-mentioned activities 
will become difficult undertakings.

Sam

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stbenge wrote:
> I may never have a job again, since I have a criminal background. They
> might just be forcing people like me to work 'under the table' for the 
> rest of our lives, because no employer will have me no matter how many 
> meds I'm taking, or how much therapy I've undergone. Like the War on 
> Drugs, the measures they take to fight the War on Terrorism will 
> eventually bite 'them' in the ass.

Fine, so you turn into a shadowrunner.  Big deal.

-- 
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.digitalartsuk.com

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