The FBI is compiling the world’s largest repository of fingerprint, face, iris and palm scans, purportedly as part of its effort to help catch criminals and terrorists. The project, which carries a $1 billion price tag, will allow law enforcement worldwide to more readily identify and, presumably, apprehend bad guys.

But they’re not the only ones who’ll have access to the data.

At an employer’s request, the FBI will retain employee fingerprints and notify the employer if a worker has an encounter with law enforcement. As Wired points out, that’s the kind of service you’d expect from a private company, not from a tax-funded agency. Not even the courts or police bother to notify employers if their workers are charged with criminal activity, and yet the FBI is offering to perform this service regardless of whether someone’s been charged, much less convicted.

There’s no need to fear, says Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division. The FBI has “strict laws” regulating those who can access information stored in the system and, in case that’s not enough, they audit agencies with access every three years. Meanwhile, individuals can ask for copies of what’s in the system.

But what if the information in the system is not accurate? Well, the last time anyone raised that challenge it involved the National Crime Information Center database, which the FBI said was exempt from the Privacy Act’s accuracy requirements.

Pardon me while I go dust off my brown coat.

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