Biometrics' Image Problem Lingers
By Allan Holmes | Wednesday, October 24, 2007 | 03:26 PM
By Allan Holmes | Wednesday, October 24, 2007 | 03:26 PM
Biometric vendors have always had the “Big Brother” image problem to do deal with when trying to sell their wares to organizations that are considering using fingerprints, hand geometry or iris scans to identify individuals. The public worries that their biometric identification could be stolen or used by the government in a way they wouldn't approve of. It looks like they still do, especially when children are involved, as Oregon’s Stayton Middle School officials found out.
Comments
The problem with biomatrics is clearly mission creep. Can we trust the administrators and government officials to use the data ONLY for the limited purpose for which it was collected ? Recent experience has proven that the answer to this question is a resonding no ! The second question is : Can we trust the administrators to protect the data effectively ? Here again recent experience has proven over and over that this not the case ! Data is being stolen or worse lost regularly from government computers and even the Banks and the DOD. With data theft so prevalent how good is a biometric ID when crooks can copy it and forge it so easily. The answer is probably not with more automation but with more human contact.
Nesterenko | Tuesday, November 06, 2007 | 10:26 AMBig Brother created this entire problem we have called indentity.
If we only had one number for everything, no one would be able to us it expect the person it was issued to at birth.
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Allan Holmes on what's happening and what's being discussed in the world of federal information technology.
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