Your Privacy Up In Smoke

It's called the International Information Consortium and Canada's part of it. It's planning the free flow of biometric measurements, irises or palm prints as well as fingerprints, and other personal information across network linking the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

The US designed programme is called "Server In The Sky." There's not much information to be found about IIC but it's already creating concerns about the wholesale loss of privacy. From The Guardian:

The plan will make groups anxious to safeguard personal privacy question how much access to UK databases is granted to foreign law enforcement agencies. There will also be concern over security, particularly after embarrassing data losses within the UK, and accuracy: in one case, an arrest for a terror offence by US investigators used what turned out to be misidentified fingerprint matches.

The FBI told the Guardian: "Server in the Sky is an FBI initiative designed to foster the advanced search and exchange of biometric information on a global scale. While it is currently in the concept and design stages, once complete it will provide a technical forum for member nations to submit biometric search requests to other nations. It will maintain a core holding of the world's 'worst of the worst' individuals. Any identifications of these people will be sent as a priority message to the requesting nation."

In theory, Sky Server makes a lot of sense. What's missing, as you might expect, is any discussion of how information sharing will be regulated to preserve the privacy of ordinary citizens against the whim of those operating the system. With rapid advances in biometrics technology, the day isn't far off where we may all be recognizable and we won't be needing bar codes tattooed on our foreheads either.