Different Forms of Biometric Identification
by admin
Biometrics is a controversial topic within the technology industry. And the serious privacy/legal implications are still being debated.
Although I plan to go into much more detail about these in further posts, I’d just like to take a moment right now to focus on the different ways in which you can be uniquely identified using technology.
Fingerprint Scanning
Many will argue that this is an inappropriate name, since digital finger scanning doesn’t fall under the same legal definition as fingerprinting. However, finger scanning is a safe, inexpensive and reliable way for blocking unauthorized access to computers.
This approach does have one major technical problem. Although only the prints from the authorized user can be used to access the system, the device has no way of telling the difference between an actual finger and a reproduction of the authorized print.
Handwriting Analysis
Every person’s signature is different. Although the shape of a signature can be copied with by a well-practiced forger, there are subtle details that – once identified – are very difficult to copy. This is especially true since signatures are the muscle-memory required to write a signature is the result of many years of repetition.
Gesture Recognition
Have you ever looked into a crowd of people and recognized someone you knew from behind… just by the way they walked? Every individual has their own unique mannerisms and body language traits. Analysis of body movements – such as the way you walk – can be used to identify people from a distance, using a simple video camera.
Facial Recognition
Anyone who uses Facebook has seen the power of facial recognition technology. It’s now possible to browse large numbers of photographs in the same way that you would sort them by date or by size. This technique is already being used by law enforcement to identify suspicious individuals in public spaces.
Voice Recognition
Your voice – combined with your speaking mannerisms – are completely unique to you. This means that a program can take a key phrase that you speak into a microphone, and compare it with a pre-recorded key phrase in order to determine of you are the original speaker.
However, these systems can be fooled.
I’m also curious to see how these system respond to voice changes due to age and cultural immersion. (Your accent changes when you live abroad for a long time)
Typing Recognition
Just as with Gesture Recognition, there are a number of unique maneurisms that separate your typing from everyone else’s. These include things such as keystroke length, typing speed, latency between keystrokes, letter groupings, and error patterns.
Retinal Scan (Iris Scan)
Similarly to your fingerprints, your iris contains a complex pattern that is completely unique to you. This means that you can be uniquely identified using nothing more than a photo of your eye. This is often confused with retinal scans, which examine the pattern of blood vessels inside of your eyes. Many consider retinal scans to be too invasive, since they actually look inside of your body.
It’s a scary thought, but the rapid pace of technology improvement is bringing us to a point where privacy will soon become a thing of the past. All of our ideas around personal space and individual rights will have to be re-thought.
Whether you like it or not, the technical capability is here. It’s just a matter of time and cultural attitudes.
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