How safe is our identity?

There have been a number of interesting developments in the identity and access management space over the past 12 months or so. Some of these have been moving us into very exciting and scary areas. The technologist in me is in awe of what we have the capability of doing, the citizen in me feels like it would the safest thing to do, and the individual in me is frightened!

The technology exists to spot people in crowds, spot retinas at 3 metres and compare these against identity databases. Mostly these systems are targetted at the unsavoury elements of society. However my question is, who decides that these people are unsavoury?
Many thanks

Matt
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