Immigration Bill Trojan Horse for Biometrics (Iris Scan, Voice & Face Recognition)

On May 10th, 2013 Wired magazine release an article pointing out provisions for a biometrics system for all Americans hidden in the the new proposed immigration bill, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act”. Now the assertions in this piece were quickly dismissed in an article in the Daily Beast and based on that article, and a superficial reading of the law in question you may be put at ease and agree that these claims were in fact exaggerated. However, in this video we're going to demonstrate that not only are the accusations of a unified biometrics database system tied to employment accurate, but that in fact the reality is far more serious than Wired magazine contended. In order to understand why this is the case we have to read the fine print of the law very carefully and look at a number of other federal programs that are developing in tandem. All of the links to the articles and documents in question will be provided in the description below.

Now first of all let's just take a look at the actual wording of the bill. The controversy starts on page 178 where it mandates the creation of a “photo tool,” which would in fact be a federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued ID. The law would require employers to check potential employees in this database and match their photographs and pertinent documents before hiring them.

Now the Daily Beast is correct here when they say that a single photograph isn't really a full biometric set. However on page 194 of the document it clearly authorizes the government to "confirm identity and employment authorization through verification and comparison of records as determined necessary by the Secretary;". This is further confirmed on page 225 which calls for "connectivity between U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice, and other agencies or officials with respect to the sharing of information to support such System and related immigration enforcement actions." The operative terms here are the undefined other agencies. This is open ended unrestricted and that means that records will be merged with and shared with other federal databases at the discretion of the DHS.

How is this relevant to biometrics? Well let's go take a look at the FBI's own website where they talk about their new biometrics database called Next Generation Identification or NGI. NGI is a system designed to collect biometric information from any and all available sources and includes face recognition, voice recognition, iris scan information and more. According to the FBI this program was 60% complete in 2012 and is on schedule to be fully operational in the summer of 2014. The new immigration clearly allows for these two databases to be directly connected.

Furthermore on page 190 of the immigration bill under section (H) it grants the government the AUTHORITY TO MODIFY INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS at their discretion. Meaning that once the system is in place, they can incrementally increase the amount of biometric data required for identification cards to be accepted.

To make matters worse we already know that the Federal government has begun collecting biometric information covertly at security checkpoints. We've also seen this come up in the Occupy protests where protesters were given higher bail if they refused iris scans. And this is just what's been leaked to the public. The reality is that you are being photographed and filmed more and more and technology is making it easier and easier to unify this information and tie it to your identity.

Once the unified biometric database system is established personal identification data can easily be filled in over time using sources like surveillance cameras social networks and medical records.

Medical records? You ask. How is the government going to have access to those? Well through Obamacare. This isn't a conspiracy theory. Obama's healthcare bill clearly establishes an Electronic Medical Records system which will hold all medical records on a national level, and which the federal government will have access to. This is justified to reduce paperwork and to make the system more efficient.

Connect all of the dots here and it's clear that immigration bill is a trojan horse. It creates a national identification system tied to any federal agency the government chooses, referencing any information the government chooses, biometrics included, and it makes this a condition of your employment and therefore impossible to avoid for most people. Furthermore his system is explicitly designed to expand from the get go, so to expect it not to is beyond naive.

Why is this dangerous? Well in order to understand that you have to look at the current state of biometric technology. There have been many people over the years concerned about the possibility of being chipped by the government and that these chips would be used to track people, however current biometric technology makes embedded microchips irrelevant. We already have systems in place which can identify a person from a distance just by the rhythm of their walk, not to mention facial and voice recognition software that has become more and more advanced over the years. Even facebook is able to identify individuals in photos that you've uploaded, and NYPD has publicly acknowledged that they use Facebook's facial recognition database in criminal investigations. That means the government has access to pictures of you from as many angles as have been uploaded to the internet.

Here's what you need to realize: the totalitarian control grid that is being set up right now isn't being established in one monolithic piece of legislation, it's being established in fragments that are converging to form something much larger. If you wait until this unified picture is obvious to everyone, it will be too late.

This unified identification system isn't going to stop with employment or healthcare, just like all government programs it will be gradually expanded into to travel, taxes, banking and even internet access if they can get away with it.

This isn't about immigration, it's about power.