"We Want Your Retina?" My 37 Hours In Police Custody For Protesting Were An Eye Opener

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst/153440/%22we_want_your_retina%22_my_37_hours_in_police_custody_for_protesting_were_an_eye_opener/?page=entire

Salon / By John Knefel

"We Want Your Retina?" My 37 Hours in Police Custody for Protesting Were an Eye Opener

Why it's important for occupiers to see the inside of the prison-industrial complex.

December 14, 2011 |

“You got press credentials?”

I barely had time to say no to the mustachioed White Shirt before he grabbed my forearm and threw me to the ground. As he brought me down I transferred my smartphone – which I had been using to document the NYPD’s aggressive arrests following the impromptu celebration in the Winter Garden on Dec. 12 – to my left hand and then my pocket. The website Boing Boing posted a very dramatic photograph of me holding my glasses while police pile on top of me. I’ve been covering Occupy Wall Street as an independent journalist for its entirety as a radio show host, for Salon, and on the ground.



- snip -

We want your retina

When we were finally brought to the final holding area for our arraignment we were informed that if we refused to submit to a retina scan we would likely be held overnight. The retina scan is a voluntary procedure that all 10 of us had already denied earlier that day. According to our lawyers from the National Lawyers Guild – who are heroes – the lieutenant on duty and the judge said that if we continued to refuse the scans we wouldn’t get out that night. With only a few exceptions due to personal commitments, we all stood in solidarity and refused to submit to the procedure. This was around 11 p.m. on Tuesday, roughly 36 hours after our arrest. Several of the women arrested and a majority of the men were going to spend another night in prison to protest the ever expanding security state. In many ways, this final hurdle was the most egregious encroachment on our liberties. The retinal scan is a voluntary procedure, but if you don’t submit to it, you will be punished.

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[Justice wanted]

1. First it was DNA taking now this. I don't even recognize America anymore.

[unionworks]

2. I'll give them a scan

A middle finger scan

[rfranklin]

3. "Resisting arrest...take this!"

As the billy club cracked his skull open.

[SpiralHawk]

4. "All your retinas are belong to us." - The Authorities

[Manifestor_of_Light]

5. I had to get an iris scan.

When I got my Texas drivers license redone, that I had lost.
Should have worn my contacts with a colored iris.

[sakabatou]

21. Wouldn't have helped

They're scanning the back of your eye, not the front.

[pmorlan1]

6. Wow

Retina scans? That's really creepy.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

7. That is absolutely creepy.

[progressoid]

8. "The retina scan is a voluntary procedure..."

I doubt it will be voluntary for much longer. Look for it to be mandatory soon.

[Remember Me]

23. Sounds to me like it already is, in effect nt

[Warren Stupidity]

9. at this point anyone who doesn't understand that this is a police state is not paying attention

the enabling act was the patriot act, but really this started a long time ago with the war on drugs. We live in a police state. Is it fascism yet? I don't know and I no longer care to have that definitional argument. It is what it is, it ain't your grandfather's goose stepping nazis, it is swat teams pepper spray IQ Carrier and electronic eavesdropping and surveillance cameras everywhere.

[Bo]

19. In Israel young people call America the "labour camp"

Very common view actually around the world.

[DirkGently]

10. Wow. Strictly voluntary. Unless you want to be held on bullshit charges overnight.

[lonestarnot]

11. K & R!

Gawd this is awful. I cannot believe we are being treated like freaks w/o rights.

[eyewall]

12. That's a powerful photo

Black and white makes it that much more intense.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

13. The Constitution means nothing.

They can do whatever they want with impunity.

[Bozita]

14. a message for the NYPD...

[wakemewhenitsover]

16. +1

I wonder how many cops are aware that, by opposing the 99%, they are opposing their own.

[caseymoz]

15. Sorry, the retinal scan is not voluntary.

If it costs you one night in jail, if you are held hostage for any time, if you lose any amount of your liberty if you don't take the retinal scan, it isn't voluntary and you shouldn't think of it as such. I resent them even suggesting it is. Fact is, you are being coerced, but they know as authority figures if they call it "voluntary" people might just believe it. Don't fall for it.

[Shining Jack]

17. Remember Minority Report, everybody getting scanned wherever they go?

DARPA's Smart-Iris Can Detect Eyes in a Moving Crowd



Engineers at Southern Methodist University (SMU) are working closely with DARPA to develop a new type of eye scanner that could identify a room full of people without their knowledge. The new image sensors, called Panoptes, could locate and scan a persons iris regardless of distance, and even if they're not looking directly at the camera. The system, dubbed Smart-Iris, is impervious to problems like poor lighting, glare, eye lashes, or movement. And, with the help of a new algorithm, it can function with only a partial scan.

http://www.switched.com/2010/06/01/darpas-smart-iris-can-detect-eyes-in-a-moving-crowd/

[JDPriestly]

18. Using retina scans to identify people should be illegal.

There is something far to intrusive about it. You were not arrested for a felony.

They are wasting their money unless they are collecting retina scans of political dissidents for some file to be pulled out in the future.

[hack89]

20. How do you feel about fingerprints?

If they are used in the same manner as fingerprints I don't see the big deal. I do oppose any expansion of the police recording biometric data.

[Dawson Leery]

22. Damn these whores of the ruling class.

The police uniform does NOT protect us.