Tattoos can tell a lot about a person. They can reveal someone’s religious views, express political opinions, hint at family life, and much more. But if the federal government gets its way, your tattoos could soon be used to put you behind bars.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently completed a test of a tattoo image-matching system that could be used by law enforcement to find suspects in a criminal case. The test (named Tatt-E, or Tattoo Recognition Technology Evaluation) attempted to match different images of tattoos gathered by law enforcement agencies by using algorithms created by private companies.