The Great American Dragnet: Over 200 Million People Are in the Facial Recognition DatabaseDaisy Luther The Washington Post reports: There is no way to opt out of this for privacy reasons if you intend to be a licensed driver in the United States. Only 13 states have not gone into full-out Big Brother mode with facial recognitionyet. At this time, the states without the technology are Alaska, California, Wyoming, Arizona, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, Maine, and New Hampshire. However, even though they dont have the technology to readily identify residents, they still have millions of photos in their databases. Whats more, it isnt only our drivers licenses that we have to worry about. Another, even larger, database exists. The US State Department has a database with 230 million searchable images. Anyone with a passport or an immigration visa may find themselves an unwilling participant in this database. Heres the breakdown of who has a photo database: This invasion of privacy is just another facet of the surveillance state, and should be no surprise considering the information Edward Snowden just shared about the over-reaching tentacles of the NSA into all of our communications. We are filing our identities with the government and they can identify us at will, without any requirement for probable cause. The authorities that use this technology claim that the purpose of it is to make us safer, by helping to prevent identity fraud and to identify criminals. However, what freedom are we giving up for this safety cloaked in benevolence? We are giving up the freedom of having the most elemental form of privacy that of being able to go about our daily business without being watched and identified. And once youre identified, this connects to all sorts of other personal information that has been compiled: your address, your driving and criminal records, and potentially, whatever else that has been neatly filed away at your friendly neighborhood fusion center. Think about it: Youre walking the dog and you fail to scoop the poop if theres a surveillance camera in the area, it would be a simple matter, given the technology, for you to be identified. If you are attending a protest that might be considered anti-government, dont expect to be anonymous. A photo of the crowd could easily result in the identification of most of the participants. Are you purchasing ammo, preparedness items, or books about a controversial topic? Paying cash wont buy you much in the way of privacy your purchase will most likely be captured on the CCTV camera at the checkout stand, making you easily identifiable to anyone who might wish to track these kinds of things. What if a person with access to this technology uses it for personal, less than ethical reasons, like stalking an attractive women he saw on the street? The potential for abuse is mind-boggling. If you cant leave your house without being identified, do you have any real freedom left, or are you just a resident in a very large cage? 