Personal Concerns with Biometrics
- How do you know biometric technology is safe (healthy) to use?
- Can biometrics reveal private information (medical information, drug use, ethnicity, disease detection, etc.)?
- Do biometrics invade an individual’s civil liberties and privacy?
- If I provide my biometric, who has access to it (and the information associated with it)?
- Can someone steal my biometric(s)?
- What happens if I am enrolled in a fingerprint system and I cut my finger?
How do you know biometric technology is safe (healthy) to use?
Most biometric systems use everyday sensors, such as a digital camera, to obtain the observations of an individual’s biometric; other sensors would need to be analyzed. Most stated health concerns are actually similar to those encountered in everyday life (touching a fingerprint sensor is roughly equivalent to touching a doorknob).
Can biometrics reveal private information (medical information, drug use, ethnicity, disease detection, etc.)?
Biometric systems cannot detect diseases; however, some of the information gathered using some biometric modalities could potentially be used to detect medical information or drug use. These diagnoses require specialized training, however. The image data from a face recognition system may allude to the individual’s ethnicity.
Do biometrics invade an individual’s civil liberties and privacy?
Many US Supreme Court findings (e.g. Schmerber v. CA.,384 U.S. 757, 1966; U.S. v Dionisio, 410 U.S. 1, 1973) imply that the use of biometrics does not invade an individual’s civil liberties or privacy, although personal viewpoints are subjective and may differ. A well thought through biometric system implementation should be considerate of these issues.
If I provide my biometric, who has access to it (and the information associated with it)?
Access to biometrics stored within the system is a system implementation issue, not a biometrics issue. Each system will be different, and it is recommended that an individual be aware of the use and access to his/her biometrics before providing a biometric to a system.
Can someone steal my biometric(s)?
Although it may be possible to steal one’s biometric for use with certain modalities, for example cutting off one’s finger or creating a synthetic model of a fingerprint or iris pattern, it is not a practical or realistic concern in most applications. Many vendors are working actively on “liveness” detection mechanisms for determining if a living person is indeed presenting the sample. Although this does not prevent “stealing” of a biometric in all applications, it is an important element in overall system security. In important United States government applications, such as US-VISIT, the biometric is captured in the presence of an immigration officer, who can detect the presence of a forgery. It is important to note that once the system digitizes the biometric data, it faces the same vulnerabilities faced by typical (non-biometric) computer systems.
What happens if I am enrolled in a fingerprint system and I cut my finger?
Minor scrapes typically do not impact a biometric system. Severe injuries would require a re-enrollment of the healed finger or the enrollment of a different finger. Some biometric systems allow for the enrollment of a secondary sample. For instance, an individual may be able to use his or her left index finger for verification purposes in the event he or she has injured the right index finger.
