The U.S. is quickly turning into a surveillance nation as information on millions of Americans is being gathered and stored in huge biometric databases.
Physiological and behavioral data is increasingly being used to identify people, these things include face recognition, iris scanning and even what you post on Facebook. As technology advances, watchers will be able to detect individuals by traits such as ear shape, walking patterns and even odor.
The US Department of Defense’s government spending on biometric programs has been over 3 billion dollars over the last 5 years and the biometric industry is predicted to be about 9 billion globally this year. As our gadgets, electronics and online services become ‘smarter’ these will be generating a growing new source of revenue as they hold more and more data on people that can be sold and bartered. We can expect companies will be more pressured as time goes on to be more transparent with the data they collect from consumers.
As we’re tracked, cataloged and watched, privacy is decreasing which pleads the question, how much surveillance is too much? Watch this short piece from RT for some insight on these biometric advances.
photo: swanksalot
