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Biometrics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometrics -

The proposed identity card scheme for the UK will require the registration of biometric identifiers: fingerprints, iris scans and facial scans.

This raises the awful prospect of every single law-abiding person in the UK having to turn up, when commanded, to be fingerprinted like criminals.

The government insists that biometric technology will guarantee that ID cards are 'unforgeable', that no-one will be able to register twice.

Biometric technology can work well to verify identity accurately within small, well-defined populations - a door entry system for employees in a workplace, for example.

But biometrics are completely untested as an identity verification system for 60 million people!

In May 2005 The UK Passport Office published the results of biometric trials it had carried out using 10,000 volunteers - the results showed significant problems and failure rates.

The system had problems reading dark-skinned eyes and faces, while failure rates were much higher for disabled volunteers for a variety of reasons. Additionally, the identity-checking process took several minutes per person (imagine the increased queuing time at the airport passport control!)

• 31% of facial scans failed to correctly identify the volunteer
• 19% of fingerprint scans failed
• 4% of the iris scans failed

4% might not sound much - but imagine how many millions of biometric verifications might be carried out each year if we start having to present our ID for any number of everyday transactions. 4% of 60 million (current UK population) for example is 2.4 million.

So in a future ID card Britain many thousands of innocent people everyday may fail their identity check through no fault of their own, perhaps unable to access essential services, caught up in bureacratic red tape.

(n.b. the webpage about the trials is no longer available on the UKPS website!)

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