Biometrics- Do it for the Kids!

From time to time- being a lover of science fiction- I encounter technologies like voice recognition on the big screen. Just imagine a device that idientifies a person based on samples of sound bytes. Such a device must be years down the road. Science has not progressed that far, has it? Actually, it has. Organizations may be using these technolgies as well as other biometrics in your backyard; I know they are using them in mine.

I live near two military bases, and both release newsletters. About a week ago, I was perusing through the August 27, 2009 edition of Keesler News. I observe page after page of camouflage uniforms and smiling soldiers. Then I pause- a headline catches my eye. It reads, "228 Kids Participate in Identification program." My eyes dilate. My lips part. Do my eyes deceive me? I read on.

The article features three pictures each with commentary. One photograph depicts an attractive and grinning female in a red uniform swabbing a child's oral mucosa. The text says, " A volounteer from St. Martin High School does a DNA swab," and it is "Mississippi Child Identification Program day." The next photo shows a female child of 12 with a microphone to her mouth. Why? She is giving a voice recognition sample. My eyes widen, whites umistakably visible. The third and final picture show another volunteer in red who has just taken a dental impression from a boy of nine. Parents did not leave empty handed: "Parents or guardians also received a laminated identification card and a computer disk with color photos, digital fingerprints, identifying characteristics, and family information." Digital fingerprints? Ugh.

As I reread the article, I notice this tidbit, "Mississippi's Freemason's have sponsored the program since 2004 to raise public awarenes of the risks of child abduction an d exploitation." Freemasons? My heart races.

At his point, I know what the reader may be thinking, "What is the worry? You want kids to be safe, don't you?" With digital fingerprints, DNA databases, and dental impressions, society is heading in the wrong direction. The program acclimates children to technologies (get 'em while they are young) which have the potential to be misused. I must wonder about the potential to frame innocent people with crime using digital fingerprints. The article claims such a ameasure will help identify missing children, but I fear if such programs become widespread, the technologies wil encroach on our privacy. I suspect the true goal is to create a database with everyone's DNA. Additionally, the event is sponsored by Freemasons. According to William Cooper's Behold a Pale Horse, members of this society are routinely linked to plans to create a one world government. Are programs such as these in place to protect children, or is this a Trojan horse ushering in high-tech registries of citizens?