Iris scanning

[Bill Stewart]

At 09:08 AM 05/07/2003 -0500, Harmon Seaver wrote:
>   An article on BBC mentions how little iris scanning has actually been 
> tested,
>and that China, for instance, is refusing to use it because of possible 
>dangers,
>or at least, perceived dangers. Which has me wondering, could there be actual
>dangers from iris scanning, say a malfunctioning laser damaging the eye?
>
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3003571.stm

One thing the article said was:
         > The report found that iris recognition did better than most
         > but one manufacturer's claim of a 0.5% false identification rate
         > ballooned to 6% during the DOD tests.

         > With 13 million people currently on the FBI's watch list,
         > any large scale biometric system could mean millions of people
         > being detained when crossing borders.

While the point they're trying to make is about false positives,
the THIRTEEN MILLION PEOPLE ON THE FBI WATCH LIST just kind of slides by.
That's equal to 5% of the US population, on Federal watch lists.
         (Yes, obviously some of those are foreigners, but then half the US 
population
         are young enough that hopefully almost none of them attract 
Federal attention...)
What an outrage!