Police in Massachusetts will be one of the first civilian law enforcement agencies to be equipped with a controversial new facial recognition technology called MORIS. MORIS is an iPhone add-on that allows officers to scan a person's features and determine if they have a criminal history or are wanted for any number of offenses. The device can recognize faces at a distance of five feet, read fingerprints, and even scan the iris of a potential suspect and then cross-reference that information with a national database.
MORIS seems like it would be a thorn in the side of would-be criminals, but it's also raising eyebrows amongst law-abiding citizens over potential privacy concerns. Some fear that the inclusions of mug shots in the searchable database would put the information of innocent individuals -- like address and other contact information -- in the hands of any officer capable of snapping a quick photo. Even more troubling is the potential for a MORIS scanner to fall into the hands of a criminal, who could glean a plethora of your information without your even knowing it.
The first batch of 1,000 MORIS devices will be distributed to police organizations around the country by September. Each unit carries a $3,000 U.S. price tag, not to mention the expensive iPhone it operates with. There are plans to make Android-compatible MORIS devices, but no date has been set for their release.
