Not many people will argue against the modern technological conveniences we all enjoy. After all, the technology that lets you sit at home and have instant access to news stories from around the world is one of the greatest technological advances the world has ever seen. Driving to work every morning, sitting through conference calls and participating in email conversations, microwaving a frozen dinner, and talking on your cellular phone are so integrated in our everyday lives that we scarcely notice them anymore.

In fact, we are so inundated with this technology that we often don’t even pay attention when a new innovation is completed. We have other things to do. Unless it’s spectacular, new technology doesn’t tend to make much of an impression anymore.

How many of us notice, then, when that technology inches us just a little closer to the totalitarian surveillance state predicted by Orwell so many years ago? We acquiesced quietly when traffic cameras were mounted all over cities because it was “for our own good.” We embraced DNA testing because it genuinely helped to convict criminals in many cases, and free innocent people in other cases. Most of us didn’t even bother reading the USA PATRIOT Act right away, believing that allowing the government easier access to roving wiretapping and voicemail interception would help catch terrorists. Drug testing, internet search data gathering, library records being searched by the government: all technological advances undertaken for our own good.

What are we left with now? We live in a time where it’s virtually impossible to have the assurance of privacy, even if you haven’t done anything wrong. Walking down the street or working in a building means that you will most likely be videotaped, and forget any semblance of privacy on the phone or the internet. Yesterday, a further blow was struck against the interests of future anonymity, as the $1 billion 10-year FBI biometrics contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin, you may recall, was found liable in a suit just last year where a worker was fired for cooperating with the FBI in a hacking case involving sensitive nuclear weapons information.

The new biometrics project will involve maintaining an extensive database of personally identifiable information on criminals such as palm prints, iris scans, facial shapes, scars, and tattoos. This is, in itself, not a particularly disturbing bit of news. We’ve known for quite a while that criminal identification was going to move in this direction. There are two aspects of this plan that are drawing considerable criticism, however:

1. The technology used to collect and store this biometric data has not been thoroughly tested. There is no way to know that our information will be safe, or even that leaks will be reported (as evidenced by Lockheed’s reluctance to report intrusions to the proper authorities).

2. A part of the FBI’s plan is to offer employers the ability to store employees’ identifying data and then inform the employer if the employee is arrested. Ever. For anything.

We aren’t yet at the point that we are being convicted for thoughtcrime, but certainly the ability of your employer to know instantly when you are collared for protesting, public indecency, or that stack of unpaid parking tickets is moving us in that direction. Knowing that your personally identifiable information will be on record with the authorities for the rest of your life following any arrest is enough to make almost anyone paranoid about the future of privacy in America.