Talk:Office of Biometric Identity Management

Opening comments
Is there any information available on how long after the visitor's departure the fingerprint details and photograph will be retained for? Or indeed, where it is stored and what is intended to be done with it?--Dub8lad1 22:43, 1 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Indented line 75 years in the BSS: www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_pia_cis_bss.pdf — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.225.166.254 (talk) 14:09, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

The absence of a "criticisms" section makes this article blatantly one-sided. There certainly is no lack of criticism against US-VISIT beyond the Braziian reaction. Corrado7mari 15:31, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

High profile
Did they fingerprint Beckham? A serious question as it indicates what the U.S. views as an exception. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 221.133.86.35 (talk) 03:57, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

rename
Both the full name and the acronym should not be used in the title. One should be chosen, with the other as redirect. Chris (talk) 14:11, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Name change
I recommend moving the page to US-VISIT. The expanded form is not commonly used. One precedent for this would be NASA. Are there any objections? Everything counts (talk) 02:52, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Looks like it is time for a new name for this agency. Upon Presidential approval of H.R. 933, a continuing resolution, the US-VISIT program will become "Office of Biometric Identity Management." Jsonitsac (talk) 00:46, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was page moved. Vegaswikian (talk) 00:02, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology → US-VISIT — The short form is much more commonly used (similar to NASA). --Everything counts (talk) 19:42, 4 December 2009 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

iPhone fingerprint scanner - privacy/security issues
Impact of iPhone 5S fingerprint reader and the US-VISIT fingerprint gathering program and the possible resultant privacy/security issues.

Does the NSA (and GCHQ) already have the ‘key’ to your iPhone?

If you have visited the USA in about the last 10 years, on clearing immigration you will have to have given the US a (digital) copy of your fingerprints.

So, if your fingerprints are to be the new ‘key’ to the iPhone (and other future gadgets to follow), who exactly has a copy of that ‘key’?

If the NSA already has the ‘key’ to your iPhone, it is not a great leap to imagine that software could be made so that that ‘key’ could be used remotely to access your data.

It has already been shown that these Governmental agencies have an unquenchable thirst to spy on their own citizens (let alone people outside of their country).

Likewise, if you obtained a UK biometric passport (or an UK ID card) then GCHQ will have a digital copy of your fingerprints. Also, in the UK, if you were arrested (but were never convicted of an offense), then the police have the right to take and keep your fingerprints.

If finger print technology becomes the gold standard means of authenticating your identity (e.g. to access email, banking as well as phone data), then your fingerprints could become the ultimate ‘skeleton key’ for all your data.

Again, the question remains, who already has that data and who could get a hold of it?

Unlike passwords, a fingerprint cannot be ‘reset’

What happens if your fingerprint data becomes compromised?

In traditional security systems, when a password has been cracked, it is a small matter to reset your password (or passwords). However, you can never ‘reset’ a fingerprint. If compromised, your finger prints will remain a permanent open backdoor to your personal security.

It seems that some people are happy for the UK Government (and successive Governments) to have such data, and to be spied on by them. However, what happens if someone else gets a copy of your fingerprints?

High-tech criminal fraud is already big business worldwide and criminal gangs are particularly adept at hacking, and so might actively seek to get your finger print data. With the advent of iPhone5S and iTunes allowing purchases using fingerprint data (and further business models no doubt set to follow) criminal gangs will be incentivized like never before to get your fingerprint data.

In the future, there may be more value in stealing your phone for its fingerprint data than stealing the phone itself. As for the phone re-sale market, you will have to be pretty sure that your fingerprint data is gone, or you may lose considerably more than you made selling your phone.

If your fingerprint data became compromised, perhaps you could try to block the use of your fingerprints as a means of authentication, but you would need to notify every person, business, and governmental organ that your fingerprints have been compromised. Good luck with that!

In the future, if fingerprints become the standard means of authenticating your identity, then you should take great care who you give that data to now, if stolen your life could become very difficult in the future.

iSpy an iPhone?

Also: Senator Al Franken, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, has written to Apple boss Tim Cook explaining his security concerns:

122.150.200.116 (talk) 11:19, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

Move to OBIM
I moved this article to new title of Office of Biometric Identity Management. I did this because in 2013 Congress abolished US-VISIT and replaced it with this organization. Jsonitsac (talk) 02:33, 9 August 2014 (UTC)