Biometric Identification Technology under Spotlight as way to Combat International Terrorism

Just when the impact of the 9/11 tragedy gradually fades away, the recent bomb plot in British airports, albeit being thwarted by the local police, put the world in alert again on terrorist activities. Governments have been working diligently to look for effective means to crack down terrorism. One of the focuses is how to identify suspects in a timely fashion.

IT services provider Unisys noted that authorities of many countries have been stepping up their efforts in improving identification technology, especially biometrics, in the aftermath of 9/11. Meanwhile, the number of travellers is growing rapidly and there will be processing bottlenecks due to larger aircraft. Projected increases in traveller numbers indicate that many countries will experience space restrictions at some airports if current clearance methods are continued. Improvements in biometric technology and processes to travel documents are intended to provide border processing that is as simple, fast and secure as possible.
 
Terry Hartmann, Director - Secure Identification & Biometrics of Unisys Asia Pacific said that passport issuing authorities are now employing state-of-the-art technologies to assist the officials at borders to identify suspicious terrorists efficiently. The questions asked at passport issuing offices are now including: Has this person applied for a passport in another identity they did not tell us about? Is the person replacing their lost passport the same person to whom it was originally issued? Is this person on a watch list of persons of interest or terrorists? Once a biometric is in the passport it can be used at the border – for checking whether the bearer of this passport is the person to whom it was issued, and for checking whether this person is on a watch list of persons of interest or terrorists?

Hartmann noted that biometric technology has already been on live in some countries and its deployment rate is gaining momentum.   In June 2005, the International Civil Aviation Organization promulgated its latest requirements on passport characteristics. The revision stipulated the details of the application of biometrics technology, especially facial identification. In addition, the US Visa Waiver deadline of October 2005 has encouraged all 27 nations which have visa waiver status with the USA – including Australia - to have chips in their passports which contain as a minimum the facial image of the passport holder from which a biometric comparison can be made for identity verification purposes via face recognition matching.

The EU also requires all its member country passports to be fitted with chips that hold facial images by August 2006, and fingerprint images by February 2008.

Biometric identification equipment will first be used at air borders to verify the chip-enabled ePassports. This will start with the USA as part of the US Visitor and Immigration Status Indication Technology System (US-VISIT) programme, a system that will authorize entry to the US through positive biometric identification. The objective is to verify that the person standing in front of the official and presenting the passport is the same person to whom that passport was originally issued. To ensure this, a high correlation is needed between the face, or fingerprint, or iris biometric taken from this person at the border, and the biometrics extracted from the chip in their passport, which were stored there when it was originally issued.

Among all biometric identification technologies, fingerprint identification is the most well known and has become more sophisticated than before. Hartmann said fingerprint readers can now detect life in the finger to avoid “James Bond-like” scenarios with people using moulds of someone else’s fingerprint.  Since 9/11 huge amount of research funds has been invested in facial recognition technology.  This has improved its accuracy to the point where facial recognition is now a viable biometric for 1-1 verification (is this the same person?) as well as capable of matching people in 1-many situations (have I seen this person under a different identity before?).

Hartmann said that collecting the biometric is not harmful as face and iris are captured with cameras, and fingerprint with scanners. The public are more concerned about the privacy issue – for instance, can someone skim your biometric from where it is stored (such as in a chip in a passport) and use it without your knowledge? Nevertheless, more people will turn to support tougher measures in security and identification as a result of the incident in UK. The public will be more receptive to biometric identification technologies.