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Biometrics — A civil liberties and privacy perspective
Report highlights
branch or the home by customers. 4.) Access to these online services from public places, e.g. kiosks. 5.) General access at point-of-sale. What seems clear is that the criteria (for biometric verification) set by the banks now looks to be attainable.Technologies such as finger recognition are now looking to be affordable and a major financial institution is trialing Iris checking in an A.T.M. environment. Experiences with Dynamic Signature Verification (DSV) suggest that this is a poor biometric to use in the open public environment o f point-of-sale. Signature is just simply too variable in this stressful environment.
Biometrics - A Civil Liberties and Privacy Perspective, Simon Davies. Business and government leaders seem to agree that the efficient running o f the Information Superhighway will require accurate identification o f humans. Indeed, the evolution o f information technology for decades has sought to develop perfect identity o f human subjects. The architects o f modern information systems believe that with perfect identity lies the hope o f perfect efficiency. Conversely, privacy advocates argue that perfect identity is the single most important condition for the establishment o f a controlled society. And such a condition is anathema to civil rights.This short article explores the civil liberty and privacy issues that arise in the context o f biometric-hased identification.
Will Commercial Applications for Biometric-based Solutions Really Take Off in 1998? Stephen Thomas.
Numbering systems have also traditionally filled a role o f identification and classification, but many current number systems are inadequate. The Government o f Sweden, which instituted the first national number 50 years ago, is n o w claiming that the system facilitates fraud. Limitations are now being set on the uses o f the number.
There is no doubt that biometrics are currently receiving a lot o f attention within the press, suggesting that an explosion in biometrics usage is imminent. However, there are still a number o f issues that need resolving before this explosion takes place. In particular manufacturers must pay much more attention to the customers' needs.
There is a possibility o f statelessness arising where the system requires an increasing level o f compliance which some people simply cannot or will not accept, and thus end up being denied a range o f services.
The biometric industry is certainly getting its fair share o f mainstream press coverage, ranging from headlines in U K nationals last December for IriScan being tested on an N C R Automated Teller Machine by Nationwide Building Society, to in-depth articles about Software and Systems International trialing their facial recognition system by the Metropolitan Police in the City o f London.
Although biometry is increasingly seen as a solution to fraud and inefficiency, not everyone is happy about the technology. With this technology, the government can compile a dossier on a person that tracks his every purchase and movement. That sort o f thing is possible now, but it is too labour-intensive and expensive.
You would expect from this initial enthusiasm that biometric sales would be growing, almost exponentially, year on year. In truth, the reality is completely different. There are some 50 companies throughout the world claiming to manufacture biometric products. There are some biometric systems out there in the marketplace that work well. But there is a far higher number that do not work to the end customers satisfaction or expectations.
Sadly, the experience internationally is that attempts to resolve inefficiencies in the health, police or Social Security sectors often results in unforeseen problems and costs.There is no evidence that placing biometrics at the centre o f administrative reform stands any better chance o f Success.
The vulnerabilities o f a computerized biometric system at a human and organizational level are very similar to the vulnerabilities o f any integrated information system.
Most potential customers know very little how biometric systems work and why should they? If a particular problem can be solved using an appropriate biometric then all they need to know is that the problem is solved. Customers do not care if the solution is complex or simple, providing there is a solution within budget. H o w a biometric device interfaces with other systems, what the application software is like are secondary considerations, because they expect it to simply be plugged in and work. The Association for Biometrics (Aft3), is a non-profit making, European-based organization which aims to promote the awareness and development ofbiometric and related technologies. O n e o f its primary goals is to understand potential end user requirements and make sure that if a biometric solution is identified, it is considered to be the best option for that customer.
A biometric print may be considered in the public domain, or it may find its way into general use by way o f implied consent o f the individual. In this way, people may find that they are required to provide a biometric print in many unforseen or unintended future circumstances. The Social Security number in the US and the Tax File Number, the Dutch SOFI number and the Austrian Social Security number have been extended progressively to include such facets as unemployment benefits, pensioner benefits, housing entitlement, bank account verification, and Higher education. There is a very real possibility that anything as widespread as a general purpose biometric system could mutate.
Biometric companies always quote FAILs and FRR.s in their marketing literature, but at the m o m e n t there is no agreed standard for measuring these. Several companies quote unrealistic FAILs and FILILs o f 0.0%, and w h e n asked how they can quote such figures some have replied that the system has never failed yet. This is nonsense.
Biometrics and Turing's Legacy, Peter Hawkes.
Some vendors hand build units initially, and sell them for several thousand dollars, but have no manufacturing capability. Place an order and it could be several months before product is delivered.
I have been told on good authority that, during the time Turing mainly worked on the breaking o f the German codes at Bletchley Park in 1943, he became fascinated by the need for an automatic machine to identify people over the telephone by their voiceprints.This is what we would now call speaker identification or voice biometrics. He began building a signal processing apparatus for speech spectrum analysis.The electronic component technology o f the time was based on thermionic valves and other bulky components operating at high voltages.
To summarize, the biometric industry to date has largely ignored the requirements o f the end user, the customer. And because o f this very reason, the customer has chosen to ignore biometrics.Therefore, i f b i o metric vendors wish to succeed in the marketplace, perhaps they should listen to what the customer wants and start delivering. Then, the biometric industry will be taken more seriously and 1998 could be the year the business takes off.
From 1945-1947 Turing helped set up the computer science teams at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington. Led by Donald Davies FRS and others they undertook many computing projects over the next decades. One o f the best known was the development o f Data Packet Switching. This is one o f the enabling technologies for the Internet.Another part o f Donald's team led by John Parks worked with me 1977-1978 on theVerisign automatic signature verification project.
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branch or the home by customers. 4.) Access to these online services from public places, e.g. kiosks. 5.) General access at point-of-sale. What seems clear is that the criteria (for biometric verification) set by the banks now looks to be attainable.Technologies such as finger recognition are now looking to be affordable and a major financial institution is trialing Iris checking in an A.T.M. environment. Experiences with Dynamic Signature Verification (DSV) suggest that this is a poor biometric to use in the open public environment o f point-of-sale. Signature is just simply too variable in this stressful environment.
Biometrics - A Civil Liberties and Privacy Perspective, Simon Davies. Business and government leaders seem to agree that the efficient running o f the Information Superhighway will require accurate identification o f humans. Indeed, the evolution o f information technology for decades has sought to develop perfect identity o f human subjects. The architects o f modern information systems believe that with perfect identity lies the hope o f perfect efficiency. Conversely, privacy advocates argue that perfect identity is the single most important condition for the establishment o f a controlled society. And such a condition is anathema to civil rights.This short article explores the civil liberty and privacy issues that arise in the context o f biometric-hased identification.
Will Commercial Applications for Biometric-based Solutions Really Take Off in 1998? Stephen Thomas.
Numbering systems have also traditionally filled a role o f identification and classification, but many current number systems are inadequate. The Government o f Sweden, which instituted the first national number 50 years ago, is n o w claiming that the system facilitates fraud. Limitations are now being set on the uses o f the number.
There is no doubt that biometrics are currently receiving a lot o f attention within the press, suggesting that an explosion in biometrics usage is imminent. However, there are still a number o f issues that need resolving before this explosion takes place. In particular manufacturers must pay much more attention to the customers' needs.
There is a possibility o f statelessness arising where the system requires an increasing level o f compliance which some people simply cannot or will not accept, and thus end up being denied a range o f services.
The biometric industry is certainly getting its fair share o f mainstream press coverage, ranging from headlines in U K nationals last December for IriScan being tested on an N C R Automated Teller Machine by Nationwide Building Society, to in-depth articles about Software and Systems International trialing their facial recognition system by the Metropolitan Police in the City o f London.
Although biometry is increasingly seen as a solution to fraud and inefficiency, not everyone is happy about the technology. With this technology, the government can compile a dossier on a person that tracks his every purchase and movement. That sort o f thing is possible now, but it is too labour-intensive and expensive.
You would expect from this initial enthusiasm that biometric sales would be growing, almost exponentially, year on year. In truth, the reality is completely different. There are some 50 companies throughout the world claiming to manufacture biometric products. There are some biometric systems out there in the marketplace that work well. But there is a far higher number that do not work to the end customers satisfaction or expectations.
Sadly, the experience internationally is that attempts to resolve inefficiencies in the health, police or Social Security sectors often results in unforeseen problems and costs.There is no evidence that placing biometrics at the centre o f administrative reform stands any better chance o f Success.
The vulnerabilities o f a computerized biometric system at a human and organizational level are very similar to the vulnerabilities o f any integrated information system.
Most potential customers know very little how biometric systems work and why should they? If a particular problem can be solved using an appropriate biometric then all they need to know is that the problem is solved. Customers do not care if the solution is complex or simple, providing there is a solution within budget. H o w a biometric device interfaces with other systems, what the application software is like are secondary considerations, because they expect it to simply be plugged in and work. The Association for Biometrics (Aft3), is a non-profit making, European-based organization which aims to promote the awareness and development ofbiometric and related technologies. O n e o f its primary goals is to understand potential end user requirements and make sure that if a biometric solution is identified, it is considered to be the best option for that customer.
A biometric print may be considered in the public domain, or it may find its way into general use by way o f implied consent o f the individual. In this way, people may find that they are required to provide a biometric print in many unforseen or unintended future circumstances. The Social Security number in the US and the Tax File Number, the Dutch SOFI number and the Austrian Social Security number have been extended progressively to include such facets as unemployment benefits, pensioner benefits, housing entitlement, bank account verification, and Higher education. There is a very real possibility that anything as widespread as a general purpose biometric system could mutate.
Biometric companies always quote FAILs and FRR.s in their marketing literature, but at the m o m e n t there is no agreed standard for measuring these. Several companies quote unrealistic FAILs and FILILs o f 0.0%, and w h e n asked how they can quote such figures some have replied that the system has never failed yet. This is nonsense.
Biometrics and Turing's Legacy, Peter Hawkes.
Some vendors hand build units initially, and sell them for several thousand dollars, but have no manufacturing capability. Place an order and it could be several months before product is delivered.
I have been told on good authority that, during the time Turing mainly worked on the breaking o f the German codes at Bletchley Park in 1943, he became fascinated by the need for an automatic machine to identify people over the telephone by their voiceprints.This is what we would now call speaker identification or voice biometrics. He began building a signal processing apparatus for speech spectrum analysis.The electronic component technology o f the time was based on thermionic valves and other bulky components operating at high voltages.
To summarize, the biometric industry to date has largely ignored the requirements o f the end user, the customer. And because o f this very reason, the customer has chosen to ignore biometrics.Therefore, i f b i o metric vendors wish to succeed in the marketplace, perhaps they should listen to what the customer wants and start delivering. Then, the biometric industry will be taken more seriously and 1998 could be the year the business takes off.
From 1945-1947 Turing helped set up the computer science teams at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington. Led by Donald Davies FRS and others they undertook many computing projects over the next decades. One o f the best known was the development o f Data Packet Switching. This is one o f the enabling technologies for the Internet.Another part o f Donald's team led by John Parks worked with me 1977-1978 on theVerisign automatic signature verification project.
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