Biometric face recognition technologies are a new and evolving measure that
governments and firms use to identify criminals and protect innocent people.
However, the makers of this biometric face technology must contend with the
inevitable ethical issues: what if the wrong person is identified or what if the
technology infringes upon individual rights? Developers and researchers are
constantly measuring and testing biometric methods to ensure that the right
individual is identified, although the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)
asserts that the technology is, "outpacing our basic privacy rights."
However, public attitudes are becoming less negative, due in part to 9/11 and
the London bombings, and to the prevalence of DNA testing. Some of these
concerns have kept face recognition products from reaching their full potential,
but these concerns will fall by the wayside when governments and firms
acknowledge that face recognition technology is the best passive and
non-intrusive recognition technology available.
The biometric identification equipment assigns a numerical value to every
subject captured by hi-tech cameras. Biometrics identify spacing between the
ears, eyes, and nose, as well as allowing for variants such as facial hair and
glasses. But biometric technologies are not yet as accurate as fingerprinting. A
positive ID can be made with biometrics 95% of the time, as opposed to 99% of
the time with fingerprinting, but biometrics has the advantage through image
data volume: there are 1.3 billion photographs of individuals on official
databases, versus only several hundred million sets of fingerprints on file.
Biometric market growth and its applications today
Most of the biometric industry's revenue comes from government security
applications, with only 20% of the total coming from the health care, financial
services and transportation industries. The business is growing as the
technology's performance is improving and non-government firms are using the
biometrics to ensure proper authorization and authentication when regulating
physical access. State and local governments use face recognition technologies
by providing first-responders to a crime or accident scene with biometric ID
cards.
What about big brother?
The ACLU does not support most face recognition technology since it claims
previous attempts at the technology have failed. This is true: at the 2001 Super
Bowl in Tampa, the biometric software wrongly identified several individuals as
wanted persons, and there were failed biometric surveillance installations at
several airports. Left unchecked, civil libertarians feel that face recognition
technologies will trample on individual rights and freedoms since there are no
new laws that address the use of biometrics. However, the ACLU has gone on
record to accept the use of biometrics in airports areas and for solving the
London bombings.
Biometric experts also concede that the technology is not foolproof, and
would be very dangerous if someone's photo ID were stolen.
