Data Bases of Voiceprints?

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 3:26 AM 8/10/96, harka@nycmetro.com wrote:
> * Carbons sent to: In: tcmay@got.net

(BTW, I read the list, so no need to send carbons to me, or carbon-based
units. or carbon-based citizen-units.)

>Here the technical progresses made in eaves-dropping technology come in
>really handy. Eaves-dropping on, let's say, apartments is these days
>rather trivial and a great way of collecting voice samples of 'suspects'.
>That the FBI doesn't have a voice database or at least access to one, I
>seriously doubt. Most of the technologically advanced countries use
>voice-recognition already to monitor phone traffic. The US does, Germany
>does, the UK....

I'm skeptical. To paraphrase Dr. Strangelove, what use is such a data base
if cops and agents don't know it exists? (Granted, useful in a few
exceptional cases, even if field offices and agents are unaware that it
exists, but not useful for many cases.)

If such a voiceprint database, obtained surreptitiously through National
Technical Means (tm), were to exist and be known to exist by investigators,
word of its existence would leak out quickly enough.

This is just my opinion, of course. But, as the Martian watchers say,
extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Do you _know_, that such
a data base exists? (A data base of, say, more than 5% of all the adults in
the U.S., in a data base that is searchable by voice print match to samples
submitted by FBI or other law enforcement agents.)

>The system functions 'vacuum-cleaner-like' and reacts to voice patterns
>(individual voices) and trigger words. If a trigger word is said, the
>entire conversation will be recorded and the telephone number on either
>end determined for later review.
>There are a few books out there, that deal with that kind of thing.
>Unfortunately, I only remember a german one: "The RAF Phantom", written by
>three journalists. But an Altavista might bring something up too...

Sure, we all know--or should know--what the _capabilities_ are,
technically. But capability !=! actuality.

I doubt such a data base of voice prints exists.

--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Licensed Ontologist         | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."