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Biometrics gets down to business NO.7

Biometrics gets down to business

¡¡¡¡For many people, "biometrics" conjures up images of a Big Brotherish surveillance society. But tell them they could save a few precious seconds at the supermarket checkout just by waving their fingers over a scanner, and they will sign up in their millions.
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¡¡¡¡After more than a decade of hype, biometrics-the use of body measurements such as eye scans or fingerprints to determine or verify identity-is finally taking off. And all it took to convince the public of its merits, it seems, was the promise of shorter queues or a few extra loyalty points. In the past year there has been an explosion in the commercial use of biometrics, utterly eclipsing the uphill efforts of various governments to introduce identity cards and passports that store electronic signatures derived from facial images, fingerprints or eye scans.

¡¡¡¡For a long time it was assumed that biometrics would be a governmentª²led technology, says Sapna Capoor, an analyst at Frost and Sullivan, a consultancy. But in the past couple of years this has quietly started to change. "There has been a group of biometrics vendors who have shifted away from working with governments and focused instead on commercial products," she says.

¡¡¡¡One reason for this shift is that the technology has matured, says Michael Thieme of the International Biometric Group, an industry body based in New York. In the past many biometric technologies would not work on a broad section of the population. Some types of biometric scanners worked well in the laboratory, but ran into problems in realª²world environments when scanning children, old people, people with small or sweaty hands, bricklayers or subjects with eye conditions. But the technology has since improved and is considerably more inclusive, says Mr Thieme.

¡¡¡¡New regulations in the financial sector have also boosted adoption, says Mark Upson, the boss of BioPassword in Issaquah, Washington, whose company has more than 400,000 onlineª²banking users enrolled in its keystrokeª²dynamics security scheme. In a bid to tighten security and reduce online fraud and identity theft in online banking, America's Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council is pressing banks to adopt "two factor" authentication, says Mr Upson. Previously, account holders had to provide only a single means of identity verification, such as an account number and password. Twoª²factor systems rely not just on something you know, however, but also on something you have, such as an electronic token, or something you are, in the form of a biometric.

¡¡¡¡Those in the industry believe the banking and retail approaches to biometrics-one of which puts security above convenience, the other convenience above security-will eventually converge, opening up new applications in the process.

¡¡¡¡As governments grapple with schemes to introduce biometric passports and identity cards, companies are pushing ahead with biometrics on their own. And what is perhaps even more surprising than the commercial adoption of the technology is the speed and willingness with which the public is embracing it. This is unlikely to be because people trust big companies more than they trust governments. Instead, it is because the commercial applications of biometrics tend to place a greater emphasis on the benefits to the customer, so providing incentives for adoption. As governments start to foist biometrics on their citizens, they would do well to bear this in mind.

¡¡¡¡A recent survey found that air passengers would welcome biometric checkª²in procedures at airports if it meant less queuing. People will embrace biometrics, it seems, provided there's something in it for them.

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