Biometrics
companies are poised to gain if the government
goes ahead with plans to roll out a national
identity card scheme.
The cards, which would include details such as a
scan of an iris, face or fingerprint, would be
the biggest deployment of biometric technology
to date.
As a result, the UK's choice of technology and
partnering companies would have a profound
impact in shaping the still nascent biometrics
market.
So far, the government has revealed little of
its plans. Facial recognition, iris scanning and
fingerprint scanning were all evaluated in a
government-commissioned study by Atos Origin
earlier this year. However, whether one
technology will emerge as clearly dominant or
all three will be used in some combination is
still unclear.
Facial recognition will certainly have a big
role to play. This technology has been nominated
by the International Civil Aviation Organisation
as the "global biometric" for travel documents
and the passport office plans to begin using it
from the end of this year.
The new passports will contain a paper-thin
contactless computer chip which would contain
the facial data and potentially another
biometric identifier. Before boarding an
international flight passengers would be asked
to step in front of a device that would scan
their face. At the same time, an immigration
officer would swipe the passport past a reader
and determine whether there was a match.
The roll-out of these passports will be a boon
to semiconductor companies such as Germany's
Infineon and Philips of the Netherlands that are
already supplying chips for Germany's biometric
passport scheme. It would also help companies
such as Viisage, Identix and Cognitech Systems,
which have developed the scanners and software
to run the face recognition systems. The UK
Passport Service has not yet revealed which
suppliers it will be
working with.
Facial recognition is an easy entry into
biometrics. It is non-invasive to scan faces and
large numbers of people can be processed
relatively quickly. The problem is that facial
recognition is one of the least reliable
biometrics. Glasses, new hairstyles, dramatic
changes in weight and even smiling can result in
a mismatch. People's faces change over time. It
is partly for this reason that the London School
of Economics has suggested that the cost of the
UK ID card scheme could be far higher than the
government has estimated. Cards might have to be
updated every five years to allow for changes in
appearance. Because of these concerns, the
European Union has mandated that fingerprint
scans as well as facial ones
be incorporated in passports for the 15
countries in the Schengen area that have agreed
to end internal checkpoints.
Fingerprint scanning is also emerging as a
preferred technology in the US. According to
David Ostlund, consultant at the International
Biometric Group, this is partly because
electronic fingerprint scanning has a long
history there, having been used by the FBI for
three decades. Vast files of fingerprints
already exist, so scanning can become a useful
tracking
tool much more quickly.
Fingerprint scanning is the most vibrant part of
the biometrics market. It accounts for nearly
half of revenues and has more companies offering
competing products, hence the cost of equipment
is moving down more rapidly in this market.
A basic fingerprint scanner can be bought for as
little as $30 (£16.50), although this would
probably be a device best suited to working as
an additional security measure for a personal
laptop. A scanner robust enough to be used for
tens of thousands of passengers a day at a large
airport would probably cost closer to $5,000.
At least 50 companies make fingerprint scanners,
says Mr Ostlund, and it is difficult to discern
clear leaders. Companies such as NEC, Identix
and Sagem Morpho, part of the French Safran
Group, are fairly well established in selling
complex and expensive scanning systems, used by
law-enforcement bodies. These are based mainly
on optical scanning - like pressing your finger
against a glass plate and having something like
a photocopy taken of it.
However, newer players - including AuthenTec,
Infineon, ST Microelectronics and Fujitsu - are
moving in to offer sensors based on silicon
chips, which map fingerprints through electrical
impulses or soundwaves or even temperature. More
compact than optical scanners, these are
increasingly being incorporated into computers
as a user identification measure.
Fingerprint scanning, although more reliable
than facial recognition, also has its flaws.
Fingers that are dirty or worn through manual
labour can be hard to scan, and it is possible
to trick scanners with artificial fingers. In
2002 four Japanese students were able to fool
fingerprint sensors with an artificial "gummy"
finger created in the equivalent of a home
kitchen, using a few pounds' worth of gelatine.
Iris scanning is the most reliable of the three
biometric technologies the UK government is
considering. The iris is the most distinctive
part of the human body, and does not alter with
age.
However, iris scans can be tricky to get right.
The scans have to be taken from no more than
three feet away, with the eye positioned very
precisely.
In the recent Atos Origin trial in the UK, 10
per cent of overall users - and nearly 40 per
cent of disabled users - had difficulties
getting a correct reading.
Facial recognition
Pros:
Chosen as the global biometric standard by the
International Civil Aviation Organisation.
It is easy to capture data from people - the
technology is less intrusive than other
biometric technologies as people's faces can be
scanned from a distance, or from a passport
picture.
Cons:
Faces can change over time, so scans may have to
be redone every five years.
Glasses, facial hair, change of hairstyle or
weight gain can affect accuracy of the results.
It is the least accurate biometric of the three.
It cannot, for example, distinguish between
identical twins.
Companies involved:
Viisage
Acsys Biometrics
Cognitech Systems
Identix
Iris scanning
Pros:
The most accurate biometric, as irises are the
most distinctive part of the body, and do not
change over time.
Cons:
It can be difficult to capture data - people
need to be no more than 3 feet from the scanning
camera. It can also be difficult to position the
eye correctly for a reading.
Some people find it invasive.
It is possible to fool iris scanners with
artificial irises made by printing monochrome
patterns on to paper.
Companies involved:
Iridian Technologies holds a number of patents
in this field.
Panasonic, Oki and LG are key manufacturers of
scanning cameras.
Fingerprint scanning
Pros:
Emerging as the preferred biometric in the US.
There are large databases of fingerprints that
are already in existence.
As this technology has the largest share of the
biometrics market and many companies provide it,
equipment prices are falling more rapidly.
Cons:
People may dislike the traditional association
of fingerprinting with criminality.
May not work with fingers that are dirty or if
the skin is worn because of manual labour.
Sensors can be fooled with fake fingers made
from latex or even gelatine.
Companies involved:
NEC
Sagem Morpho
Identix
Bioscrypt
AuthenTec
Cross Match
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