HAW HAW HAW HAW!

[Doktor Howl]

Iris Scanners Create the Most Secure City in the World. Welcome, Big Brother
BY Austin Carr Today


We've all seen and obsessively referenced Minority Report, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's dystopian future, where the public is tracked everywhere they go, from shopping malls to work to mass transit to the privacy of their own homes. The technology is here. I've seen it myself. It's seen me, too, and scanned my irises.

Biometrics R&D firm Global Rainmakers Inc. (GRI) announced today that it is rolling out its iris scanning technology to create what it calls "the most secure city in the world." In a partnership with Leon -- one of the largest cities in Mexico, with a population of more than a million -- GRI will fill the city with eye-scanners. That will help law enforcement revolutionize the way we live -- not to mention marketers.

"In the future, whether it's entering your home, opening your car, entering your workspace, getting a pharmacy prescription refilled, or having your medical records pulled up, everything will come off that unique key that is your iris," says Jeff Carter, CDO of Global Rainmakers. Before coming to GRI, Carter headed a think tank partnership between Bank of America, Harvard, and MIT. "Every person, place, and thing on this planet will be connected [to the iris system] within the next 10 years," he says.

Leon is the first step. To implement the system, the city is creating a database of irises. Criminals will automatically be enrolled, their irises scanned once convicted. Law-abiding citizens will have the option to opt-in.

When these residents catch a train or bus, or take out money from an ATM, they will scan their irises, rather than swiping a metro or bank card. Police officers will monitor these scans and track the movements of watch-listed individuals. "Fraud, which is a $50 billion problem, will be completely eradicated," says Carter. Not even the "dead eyeballs" seen in Minority Report could trick the system, he says. "If you've been convicted of a crime, in essence, this will act as a digital scarlet letter. If you're a known shoplifter, for example, you won't be able to go into a store without being flagged. For others, boarding a plane will be impossible."

http://www.fastcompany.com/1683302/iris-scanners-create-the-most-secure-city-in-the-world-welcomes-big-brother?partner=homepage_newsletter

More fun at link.  

The first person who posts "if you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about," wins an interbutt.

[Adios]

Son of a Bitch.

Almost time to move to the desert.

[Adios]

And he has a warning for those thinking of opting out: "When you get masses of people opting-in, opting out does not help. Opting out actually puts more of a flag on you than just being part of the system. We believe everyone will opt-in."

[Eater of Clowns]

HEY DOK I'LL RIP OUT YOUR EYEBALLS IF YOU RIP OUT MINE.

[Doktor Howl]

HEY DOK I'LL RIP OUT YOUR EYEBALLS IF YOU RIP OUT MINE.

Fuck that.  I want to see the ending.

[Eater of Clowns]

HEY DOK I'LL RIP OUT YOUR EYEBALLS IF YOU RIP OUT MINE.

Fuck that.  I want to see the ending.

Sorry, Dok, the ending is outside your designated iris roaming zone.  You aren't authorized.

[Jenne]

...how does this work for people with corneal transplants?  Or does that part of the anatomy not affect the iris scan?

[Thurnez Isa]

This shit will be easy to implement

I don't know how to make this any more clear; My security is infinitely more important than anyone's privacy, even yours!

Ken

I don't really understand all this fear-mongering, you guys need to chill out and remember that Minority Report was just a movie and not a foretelling. The government and banks know more about you than you do, and are probably better at keeping it a secret than you are. You carry an ID along with all of your credit cards and some money everyday, essentially anything and everything someone could use to steal your identity. You carry a passport when you travel, no one seems to mind that, yet it contains quite a bit of information about you. As far as advertisements go, we have already shown that we can limit what can be shown to us (ie subliminal advertisements) and if things get too invasive they can be trimmed back. In addition, people always act like the government is going to invade their privacy but frankly, they don't give two sh**s. Unless you are really doing something bad, you're not raising any eyebrows.

In an age where identity theft is an everyday occurrence, I would love a more secure method of proving that I am myself.
Ryan Lober

This most definately sound like the mark of the beast. People wake up!
Jazzylady

I think the benefits of something like this far outweigh the downsides, particularly in the areas of home and workplace security where we want to feel safe, but not at the expense of feeling barred in.
Laurie Aznavoorian

Yippee! I'm all for it. Stop the hoaxers, scammers & impostors in their tracks -- not to mention terrorists. Anything would be an improvement on the current situation. Sorry, we have brought this on ourselves: who is still teaching their kids anything about honesty, morality, decency?

[Jenne]

...well, yes and no.  I tend to think the folks who react favorably to this stuff are a certain subset of rightwingnuts who blather on and on about big government till it comes to 1) so-called security and defense and 2) rights to lurv Jebus (prayer in schools, etc.).  Just like there's a subset of emokids, a subset of leftwingnuts, etc.

[Adios]

The final sentence in the article is Goodbye 2010, hello 1984. This shit makes my blood run cold.

[Adios]

...well, yes and no.  I tend to think the folks who react favorably to this stuff are a certain subset of rightwingnuts who blather on and on about big government till it comes to 1) so-called security and defense and 2) rights to lurv Jebus (prayer in schools, etc.).  Just like there's a subset of emokids, a subset of leftwingnuts, etc.

People will line up for miles to "opt-in".

[Doktor Howl]

I love this shit.

On a lighter note:  http://rightnetwork.com/

Kelsey Grammar has apparently decided to ruin his career, ala John Lovitz.

[Adios]

I love this shit.

On a lighter note:  http://rightnetwork.com/

Kelsey Grammar has apparently decided to ruin his career, ala John Lovitz.

Good gods, you really are full of Horror™ today, aren't you?

[Requia ☣]

I completely and utterly fail to understand the obsession with biometrics.  It is easier to fake a fingerprint than a key, and I can't imagine eyes will be much better.  Doubly so since retinal patterns change with age, so these things will need a *very* large margin of error.

But at least eyes will be harder to steal than fingers, right?

[Doktor Howl]

I completely and utterly fail to understand the obsession with biometrics.  It is easier to fake a fingerprint than a key, and I can't imagine eyes will be much better.  Doubly so since retinal patterns change with age, so these things will need a *very* large margin of error.

But at least eyes will be harder to steal than fingers, right?

It's crap anyway.  Everyone knows the future is in RFID tags.