Future Applications — Some
Common Ideas
There are many views concerning potential biometric applications,
some popular examples being;
ATM
machine use.
 Most
of the leading banks have been experimenting with biometrics
for ATM machine use and as a general means of combating
card fraud. Surprisingly, these experiments have rarely
consisted of carefully integrated devices into a common
process, as could easily be achieved with certain biometric
devices. Previous comments in this paper concerning
user psychology come to mind here and one wonders why
we have not seen a more professional and carefully
considered implementation from this sector. The banks
will of course have a view concerning the level of
fraud and the cost of combating it via a technology
solution such as biometrics. They will also express
concern about potentially alienating customers with
such an approach. However, it still surprises many
in the biometric industry that the banks and financial
institutions have so far failed to embrace this technology
with any enthusiasm.
Workstation and network access.
 For
a long time this was an area often discussed but rarely
implemented until recent developments saw the unit
price of biometric devices fall dramatically as well
as several designs aimed squarely at this application.
In addition, with household names such as Sony, Compaq,
KeyTronics, Samsung and others entering the market,
these devices appear almost as a standard computer
peripheral. Many are viewing this as the application
which will provide critical mass for the biometric
industry and create the transition between sci-fi device
to regular systems component, thus raising public awareness
and lowering resistance to the use of biometrics in
general.
Travel and tourism.
 There
are many in this industry who have the vision of a
multi application card for travellers which, incorporating
a biometric, would enable them to participate in various
frequent flyer and border control systems as well as
paying for their air ticket, hotel room, hire care
etc., all with one convenient token.
Technically this is eminently possible, but from a
political and commercial point of view there are still
many issues to resolve, not the least being who would
own the card, be responsible for administration and so on. These may not be insurmountable
problems and perhaps we may see something along these lines emerge. A notable
challenge in this respect would be packaging such an initiative in a way that
would be truly attractive for users.
Internet transactions.
 Many
immediately think of on line transactions as being
an obvious area for biometrics, although there are
some significant issues to consider in this context.
Assuming device cost could be brought down to a level
whereby a biometric (and perhaps chip card) reader
could be easily incorporated into a standard build
PC, we still have the problem of authenticated enrolment
and template management, although there are several
approaches one could take to that. Of course, if your
credit card already incorporated a biometric this would
simplify things considerably. It is interesting to
note that certain device manufacturers have collaborated
with key encryption providers to provide an enhancement
to their existing services. Perhaps we shall see some
interesting developments in this are in the near future.
Telephone transactions.
 No
doubt many telesales and call centre managers have
pondered the use of biometrics. It is an attractive
possibility to consider, especially for automated processes.
However, voice verification is a difficult area of
biometrics, especially if one does not have direct
control over the transducers, as indeed you wouldn’t
when dealing with the general public. The variability
of telephone handsets coupled to the variability of
line quality and the variability of user environments
presents a significant challenge to voice verification
technology, and that is before you even consider the
variability in understanding among users.
The technology can work well in controlled closed loop
conditions but is extraordinarily difficult to implement
on anything approaching a large scale. Designing in
the necessary error correction and fallback procedures
to automated systems in a user friendly manner is also
not a job for the faint hearted.
Perhaps we shall see further developments which will
largely overcome these problems. Certainly there is
a commercial incentive to do so and I have no doubt
that much research is under way in this respect.
Public identity cards.
 A
biometric incorporated into a multi purpose public
ID card would be useful in a number of scenarios if
one could win public support for such a scheme. Unfortunately,
in this country as in others there are huge numbers
of individuals who definitely do not want to be identified.
This ensures that any such proposal would quickly become
a political hot potato and a nightmare for the minister
concerned. You may consider this a shame or a good
thing, depending on you point of view. From a dispassionate
technology perspective it represents something of a
lost opportunity, but this is of course nothing new.
It’s interesting that certain local authorities
in the UK have issued ‘citizen’ cards with
which named cardholders can receive various benefits
including discounts at local stores and on certain
services. These do not seem to have been seriously
challenged, even though they are in effect an ID card.
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