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Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not

theregister.com

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Re: Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not

#151

Post by Animats »

Don't most people in the US get fingerprinted at some point?

Let's see. I've been fingerprinted, all 10 fingers, for, at least, 1) the US Army, 2) security clearance for a DoD job, multiple times, 3) a permit to ride a horse on SF Water Department property, and 4) Customs and Border Protection Global Entry, which also took an iris scan.

California DMV takes a thumbprint, but not all 10 fingers. They've been recording me at every transaction for decades.

So I'm on file.

I think of being IDd as a normal part of life, for any position of trust. Is this unusual?

Re: Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not

#152

Post by anilakar »

rzerowan wrote: post #67

One thing that i would prefer in biometrics would be that the iris/fingerprints get treated as what they are publicly available and easily obtainable data. At worst using it a a secret key is similar to using your name as a hidden variable for authorisation, whent it sshould strictly be a identification token.And once leaked you cant revoke it . Back on topic , a Gattaca type system is unbelievably bleak and when(not…

DNA too. Until 2018 it was used here as waterproof evidence until the police managed to lock up an innocent person based on DNA and blurry surveillance camera photos only. He was only exonerated because the real perpetrator was caught by chance and confessed a week later.

The transmission chain that was later identified on CCTV was hand to escalator rail to hand, a 2+ km walk, and finally hand to latex glove.

Re: Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not

#153

Post by [deleted] »

KumaBear wrote: post #149
hoppp wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't know why the world itself exists so everything is magic

There doesn’t need to be a why the world exists. It does that’s all there is to know. There doesn’t have to be purpose just an explanation of how not why

[deleted]

Re: Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not

#154

Post by anilakar »

duped wrote: post #105
rzerowan wrote: post #67

One thing that i would prefer in biometrics would be that the iris/fingerprints get treated as what they are publicly available and easily obtainable data. At worst using it a a secret key is similar to using your name as a hidden variable for authorisation, whent it sshould strictly be a identification token.And once leaked you cant revoke it . Back on topic , a Gattaca type system is unbelievably bleak and when(not…

Why should they be publicly available and easily obtainable?

That's not what GP said though.

The point was not to make them publicly available but treat them as if they had already leaked and allowed anyone to frame anyone else.

Re: Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not

#155

Post by lan321 »

bobmcnamara wrote: post #102
EvanAnderson wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'll be treated just as stupidly as Social Security numbers, and soon we'll have biometric data breaches. >sigh Aside: Social Security numbers should be public now, too. That ship sailed a long time ago and it should be recognized.

Hey now, at least I'm able to change my social security number and passwords. Good luck changing eyes.

Gotta rotate your access eyelenses every 3 months office policy incoming. /s

Re: Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not

#156

Post by 8fingerlouie »

rzerowan wrote: post #67

One thing that i would prefer in biometrics would be that the iris/fingerprints get treated as what they are publicly available and easily obtainable data. At worst using it a a secret key is similar to using your name as a hidden variable for authorisation, whent it sshould strictly be a identification token.And once leaked you cant revoke it . Back on topic , a Gattaca type system is unbelievably bleak and when(not…

Biometrics are identification means (including DNA).

They can be used to uniquely identify you, but they're not secret. You literally leave fingerprints and DNA everywhere you go, and obtaining your biometrics is not as hard as guessing your password.

Biometrics should be used for identification, for authentication along with other means (passwords, PIN, device keys, etc), and never for authorization.

Re: Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not

#157

Post by duskdozer »

y-curious wrote: post #14
nozzlegear wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have they? They haven't taken mine.

Every time I fly from SFO, there’s a face-tracking camera that takes your photo after you stand up close to it. There’s definitely some sort of data harvesting there and there’s no opt out that I know about. I also have Clear, which was voluntary but certainly collected my biometric data years ago. I also have Global Entry, which has a similar scanning tech to point 1.

The first kind you can just opt out: https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2025/05/19/why-how-opt-o...

Re: Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not

#158

Post by PetitPrince »

DoctorOetker wrote: post #134
postflopclarity wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the implication was misleading, yes. the implication being that California has database of its citizens' genetic data. when the reality is that CA has a _physical sample_ of blood.

A collection of cars is also a collection of steering wheels, a collection of tires, a collection of seats, a collection of engines a collection of seats, ... as blood contains white blood cells, and these cells tend to contain DNA, yes a collection of identified blood samples is also a collection of DNA (molecules). A DNA collection doesn't need to have been sequenced to qualify as a DNA collection.

On the other hand blood samples degrade over time depending on how you store it. This makes DNA sequencing more difficult and/or impossible. Presumably the ROI (in a non-dystopian society) of storing those sample long-term doesn't make sense, especially if the primary usecase is screening for diseases (a random PDF from the Association of Public Health Laboratories says biomonitoring/biothreat samples are stored 1 year https://www.aphl.org/AboutAPHL/publications/Documents/ID_Spe... ).

So yes a collection of blood sample is technically also a collection of DNA sequences, but it has an expiry date (a short one compared to the lifespan of an individual!) contrary to a DNA sequence that's pure data.

Re: Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not

#159

Post by Vespasian »

qingcharles wrote: post #68
yosame wrote: post #42

Hilariously, this is the second Sam that wants to collect everyones iris's for nefarious purposes

This WorldCoin image will forever live rent free in my head: https://www.crikey.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/08...

What exactly am I looking at?

Re: Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not

#160

Post by vintermann »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #87
lesona wrote: post #39

You can submit a public comment on the proposal to DHS at the link below: https://www.regulations.gov/document/USCIS-2025-0205-0002/co...

I suspect this government isn’t receptive to commentary from anyone other than only one person. While I’d never discourage anyone from advocating their beliefs this feels like at best a waste of energy. They are going to do it because they decided to do it - the solicitation of comments is performative and required. The only way to stop it is via the courts and by voting next November.

The government isn't one person, and I think both bureaucrats and judges are actually quite receptive to lots of people - only it's nebulous to who and why. Trying to please, and hoping to get rewarded, but neither you or they themselves are 100% certain of by who. Opaque power structures, everyone's paranoid, including the powerful.
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