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Tom McLaughlin
Project manager, Office of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization
Law enforcement has been using biometric identification for over a hundred years - it's called fingerprinting, and the existing database is very robust. Scanning devices can increase efficiency, but the quality of the engineering is crucial. "Liveness detection," a way to spot facsimiles or copies that can spoof the system, is still being perfected. And in the end, the intrusiveness of ID scans is bound to make some people feel less secure.
Jim Wayman
Director, National Biometric Test Center, San Jose State University
Biometric technologies might lead to a net gain in security, but they're neither cheap nor easy. There are actually fewer government initiatives than there were a couple of years ago. You have to know what threat you are trying to avert, and you must not expect capabilities that don't logically exist (e.g., detecting "terrorist tendencies").
M. Paul Collier
President, ID Technology Partners
They're a piece of a solution, not a panacea. But I think we've reached the limits of what passwords can do for us. When you combine biometrics with public key infrastructure, smartcards, and other secure tokens, you have a significant advance in security and convenience. Still, eliminate human interaction and you've eliminated a major safeguard against fraud and identity theft.
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Will biometric security scans really make us safer?
Memory Overload
Hot Seat
Dumb Mobs
Any Text. Anytime. Anywhere. (Any Volunteers?)
