Facing the future of biometrics

Abstract

![][1] For more than a century, criminal investigators have used fingerprints to identify suspects on the basis of evidence left at the crime scene. Whereas fingerprints were once compared visually, today computers speed up the process: the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), now used in most Western countries, compares traces found at a crime scene with millions of stored fingerprint images in just a few seconds. Recently, the police in various German cities introduced mobile AFIS, enabling comparisons to be made immediately over mobile communication networks. However, it is not only criminal investigators who use such technology; many commercial access‐control systems use identification systems based on biometrics—the automated recognition of individuals by using behavioural and/or biological characteristics. An increasing demand for safety and security in both the public and private sectors is now driving research in this rapidly growing field. In addition to fingerprints, biometric technologies can make use of a rich variety of anatomical characteristics, such as images of the face, iris or retina, or representations of the geometry of the hand. These systems also use behavioural or physiological characteristics, such as a written signature, voice or the typing pattern on a keyboard. Such functions create an individual signal that can be measured by biometric technology. > …[the] new national ID cards will not only be more secure travel documents—such as the ePass—but will also support new applications that are based on electronic signatures Anyone who has recently travelled to the USA is familiar with the procedure: at US border control, the prints of both index fingers are taken, as is a digital portrait photo. This additional security measure is used not only to combat terrorism but also to monitor residence permits. From the perspective of its operators, it has been a success—after its implementation in 2004, it took only a … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif