Biometric technology is talk of the town, as it is constantly surpassing various security alternatives available. However, certain issues and concerns have been forwarded by various experts as well as common man, mainly due to biometric illiteracy surrounding their minds. Biometrics makes use of fingerprint analysis and other simple procedures to authenticate the access of a person. Clearing the doubts surrounding this technology is important to convince its acceptance.
Are Biometric Devices Safe?
Most of the people consider biometric devices to be unsafe for human health. However, the sensors and other devices used for biometric analysis are based upon wimple digital technology. Apart from being harmless, these devices are also user-friendly.
Another issue is related to use of these devices by multiple users to register themselves with biometric system. For instance, there are people worried about eye infection caused by retina scanners and other similar devices. As there has been no such occurrence in any part of the world, we can expect negligible probability for this to happen.
Misuse of Personal Information
Another concern related to procedures like fingerprint analysis is that people worry about misuse of their personal information. Issues like stealing or tampering of the information constantly discourages the users to lend their trust in biometric technology. However, the fact has been established that there is no scope of copying the information and even if it is stolen, it can’t be misused for causing any harm. The process of biometric analysis is constantly undergoing research to completely eradicate any such possibility.
Loss of Physical Trait
People getting familiar to fingerprint analysis and other such biometric procedures have another issue to be addressed. What if the physical traits of fingers or other body parts used for creating biometric samples are injured? In such a situation, a person can adopt one of the many alternatives. First, a minor cut or injury doesn’t hamper the use of fingers for biometric analysis. Secondary finger can be used to create fresh samples, in case the finger used at first is permanently disabled.
Revelation of Personal Information
Disclosure of marital status, health history, sexual orientation and civil liberties are other issues of concern rising with growth of biometric technology in various spheres of life. Also, e-passports are creating the fear of personal information being included in the global database. The issues are strong, but governments are leaving no stone unturned to address them and convince appropriate use of this technology.
Presence of these issues and concerns can’t be completely discarded, till we find satisfactory arguments for them. Still, we can sow some seeds of trust in the biometric technology, which has been favouring our security needs till date.
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