datamining the NSA

[Ian G]

The recent story on datamining the NSA is getting a lot of
airplay here in Austria.  I gather it was slashdotted, and
can be found on "datamining the NSA."  We just listened to
a half hour long interview in prime time (7pm) on national radio
on the subject.  In german.  (Accidentally, I happen to be
jacked in at the offices of the organisation that did the
datamining, or some such.)  It's also been in major newspapers,
so I'm told.

The background of the story appears to have a lot of relevence
to the wider identity debate.  In brief, it looks like there
was a several-year tussle between the NSA (voice recognition),
the FBI (fingerprints) and the British (iris scanning) over
what the standard for biometrics should be.  No mention yet
as to whether any of this data should be encrypted and thus
protected from aggressive threats, such as those mooted in
the passport-rfid debate.

There are also eyebrow-raising comments on how important
components of the biometric technology was developed by
American firms as standard approaches for american systems,
and is now owned by the French government...

iang

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