NCPA on Biometrics May be Impractical:
Biometrics — the statistical study of biological phenomenon such as the shape of your face, the minutiae of your fingertips, the bone structure of your hand or the pattern of specks on your iris — is being considered by public policy leaders as a new security measure in the fight against terrorism.
If implemented, iris scans and fingerprint minutiae will be used to determine who boards an airplane, who enters the country and who is detained by immigration officials. Despite the good intentions of government leaders, biometrics could open a Pandora's box of security threats and privacy concerns.
Biometric system testing has traditionally involved small sample sizes. Unfortunately, when the sample sizes increase, so does the error rate — resulting in either the denial of legitimate people or the acceptance of imposters.
There's good and bad associated with this issue. Biometrics could eventually make such things as keyed locks and pin numbers less of a necessity, with the downside, of course, being possible government abuses of the technology. For now, the technology is high on bugs and low on accuracy. That will change with time and money. The key to maintaining our liberty will be consistent oversight and regulation of government employment of such technologies once they become more reliable and efficient.
Link courtesy of NCPA Policy Digest. This entry also posted at The Watchtower.