Let Your Fingers Do the Talking

It used to be that one of the salvaging aspects of a minimum-wage job, the kind that required the demeaning practice of punching a time clock, was that, once in a while, a savvy employee could have a colleague clock in for him or her. (OK, guilty as charged. But only twice…and they were both emergencies.) That way, you wouldn’t get docked a whole precious hour if the darned alarm clock snooze button or maddening traffic caused you to be four minutes late to work. One aspect of the arrangement was that you were sure to repay the favor when the situation presented itself, all to save your punch-in buddy from the same docked-time fate.

But now, thanks to the swelling adoption of biometrics, that practice, and many others we’ve often taken for granted, are likely to be as quickly extinguished as smoking cigarettes at your desk.

Talk about having a finger on the pulse of technology’s future. In the unique swirl of a human digit lies the potential that’s spawning a whole new market. Biometrics, or the science of using automated means of recognition from human characteristics—be it fingerprints, voice, vein patterns, or iris scanning—is getting attention for its ability to do what passwords couldn’t do: assure that a person truly is who he says he is at the time of identification.

In fact, one of the attractions to biometrics for corporations is abolishing that very clock-in fraud experienced in my foolish youth. Known as "buddy punching," the practice is actually a big financial problem for many businesses.

Well, sure. Using physical traits to identify folks isn’t exactly new. Many forms of biometrics have been in practice for decades. But what is new are the multiple uses and applications the technology is touching.

Biometrics, after all, is increasingly being put to use all around you. For one, look no further than in local police departments. While police officers once had to travel back to police headquarters to obtain information about a suspect, fingerprinting and iris scanning is enabling that officer to acquire information about a suspect just from scanned digits or eyeballs via a mobile device. Equipped with these portable scanners, the gadget sends that print image remotely via a wireless network to a database that houses the images kept on record. Then, if a match is found from previous files containing that fingerprint or iris pattern, information about that suspect, plus a mug shot, is displayed for the police officer on a screen in the police car. The result is saved time and better identification, and a way to combat the bad guy’s practice of providing false documentation.

In the age of terrorist threats, biometrics is also being deployed in airports that see it as a way to safeguard against impersonation. Frequent fliers can keep their iris scans on record, and get through security faster. For the airlines, it speeds up their own security processes. And for passengers, it offers some freedom from anxiety about their fellow travelers. LG Electronics says its iris scanner product, the IrisAccess 3000, is undergoing trials in five U.S. airports, including Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C.

It’s important to note that biometrics will increasingly be part of our everyday life, rather than just a technology discussed in the halls of convention centers.

Even the bunny-hill of Internet access, America Online, is getting more security conscious, and inching toward biometrics as a way to shore up its networks. The ISP is offering an optional security solution, in the form of a small keypad, that sequentially jumbles password variations. The monthly service, which will cost the user $2 plus a $10 one-time set-up fee, aims to make it nearly impossible for hackers to gain access to an account. Biometrics has been mentioned as the next iteration of such applications, this one aimed at small businesses that can’t risk having their many financial transactions conducted over the Internet compromised.

Back to Top

An Iris for an Iris

In the past few months, biometrics has been pushed to the forefront and broken out of its mold as sci-fi hocus pocus. In late September, the Biometric Consortium Conference was held in Arlington, VA, with notable speakers and attendees from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and leading vendors in the sector. Some market watchers who attended the show quickly saw parallels between the current status of biometrics as a nascent industry and radio frequency identification (RFID). While standards still must be determined, interoperability hurdles cleared, and data and systems integration problems solved, biometrics not only has great promise like its RFID cousin, it’s also off to the same strong start, say market forecasters. Now, the biometrics industry is poised to hit the $4 billion mark by 2007, according to the International Biometrics Group.

To back that up, increasing numbers of vendors in the biometrics space are seeing contracts awarded as funding for security applications get green-lighted. Identix, Inc., for instance, recently landed a deal with Department of Homeland Security to provide fingerprint live scan systems as well as providing its facial recognition system to the U.S. Department of State for the travel application process. Companies like LG Electronics, Panasonic, and Iridian Technologies are all seeking to carve out their own niche in the biometrics market.

But if all this seems lofty, it’s important to note that biometrics will increasingly be part of our everyday life, rather than just a technology discussed by brilliant minds in the halls of convention centers.

Consider the office. A recent survey conduced by Hitachi Data Systems and reported in the Register, says IT professionals are preparing for biometrics to affect their own workplaces (see www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/28/biometrics_survey). Nearly 65% of those polled say they expect to see iris scanning and fingerprint-taking become part of their IT systems in the near future. The findings, which were derived by surveying more than 800 IT employees from 21 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, also show that those in the know expect this development to occur sooner rather than later. Slightly less than half (44%), expect biometrics to be commonplace within two years. The survey found equal divisions regarding the attitudes toward biometrics at the office, with a little more than half saying they would resist the introduction of such technology, while the other side saw biometrics as tried-and-true means for ensuring security. Slightly more than 25% were concerned that biometrics and the data collected was vulnerable to being abused.

Fingerprinting, and even more so iris scanning, improves upon the traditional means of entering a building or office, like with keys (how archaic!), electronic cards, and passwords plugged into to a security system. Electronics giant Panasonic, which makes an iris recognition product, says iris scanning boasts a paltry false acceptance ratio of 0.001% to 0.0001%, and claims to be 100 to 1,000 times more accurate than spot fingerprinting, and 3,000% more accurate than voice printing.

Even if citizens might be wary of having their irises mapped or their voices taped, timing is on biometrics’ side. Only a week after the late-September biometrics conference, and three years after the devastating terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the U.S. began requiring that visitors into the country be registered, via fingerprint or other biometrics. In other words, if you’re visiting the U.S., you must provide your fingerprints and allow a digital photograph of you to be taken, with this information kept on file. Although this practice, which falls under the umbrella of U.S. VISIT processing, had been informally in place since January 2004, the September milestone was significant because it marked the start of requiring that visitors from many countries, including U.S. allies, must be included in the physical registration process.

If Rep. Jim Turner (D.-TX.) has his way, expect the current system that records two fingers’ worth of prints to be upgraded to include all 10. The $700 million spent on the two-finger system, he charges, has put in place a system only slightly more than 50% effective in identification accuracy. The 10-finger approach is the way to go, he says, citing biometrics experts’ research.

It only makes sense, then, that biometrics is being used in telecom applications, and wireless communications as well. A recent poll said the majority of mobile chatterers would prefer to undergo a root canal dental procedure than lose their mobile phone. All that stored data in the hands of a stranger? Well, including a fingerprint scan on the mobile device will ensure that only the registered customer can use the phone.

Last summer, NTT DoCoMo began offering the first Japanese mobile phone that incorporated fingerprint authentication. The Fujitsu-manufactured phone, known as the movaF505i, was marketed as way to halt unauthorized use of a customer’s phone. It experienced rapid sales, with 700,000 units reportedly sold in approximately 10 weeks. The innovative wireless operator, and others like it, see biometrics as a must-have feature when the promise of m-commerce, or conducting sales via a mobile phone, becomes reality.

If biometrics isn’t in your pocket as part of your mobile device, it will find its way into your pocket as part of—or as a replacement to—your wallet. The technology is an integral part of the international smart cards that are being administered. In what has been called the grandest distribution of smart card identification, Malaysia intends to provide to all citizens, teenagers and older, a fingerprint-stored and chip-toting piece of wallet-sized plastic that acts as a banking card, driver’s license, commuting pass, and general national identification document. The rollout, known as MyKad, is reported to have cost approximately $71 million and is expected to expand to eventually include international travel and voting capabilities. The stored fingerprint image can be compared to the holder’s live fingerprint to verify the cardholder’s identify.

The need is there. The technology is getting there. So now, like all promising technologies, it’s up to the end user to see if the acceptance is there. If so, don’t be surprised if biometrics and the companies that enable it will soon be wanting to get to know you. Up close and personal.

Back to Top