Dec. 16, 2004
Mark Peplow
Experts warn that security systems are too immature for a 2005 start.
Governments are racing to get the systems up and running before October 2005, a deadline imposed by the US Congress. In 2002, Congress stated that if countries wished to stay in the US visa waiver scheme they would have to start issuing biometric passports.
Countries planning to adopt the new security systems, based on various combinations of face, iris and fingerprint recognition, include the United States, Britain, Germany and Australia.
But experts speaking at the Institution of Electrical Engineers in London on 14 December warned that the technology is not ready for use so soon. "From the equipment I've seen so far, it doesn't work well enough for a large-scale public application," says Angela Sasse, who studies how humans interact with technology at University College London. "The equipment is immature."
Getting a working system ready in time will be "a tall order", agrees Bill Perry, a technology consultant with Emerging Technology Services in Northampton, UK, and a member of the government's Biometrics Working Group. He believes that use of the technology is being driven too fast by politics.
Without the visa waiver scheme, which allows people to visit the United States for up to 90 days without a visa, all travellers will have to be fingerprinted, interviewed, and have their details checked against FBI files after a visit to their local US embassy. The process is costly and can take weeks to complete.
From the equipment I've seen so far, it doesn't work well enough for a large scale public application. — Angela Sasse, University College, London
Digital checks
From October 2005, the United States wants all new passports to be fitted with a chip that stores a digital image of the passport holder's face. This allows you to pass through border control simply by having your documents read, and your face scanned, by a machine that can match the two.
Most European Union countries are aiming for this method as it should be relatively simple to implement. But Britain is also trying to construct a national database of all these records, which can be cross-checked for additional security. This may be used in a national identity-card scheme, which could run from 2008.
To test the biometric system, the UK Passport Service has been running a trial of the technology since 26 April 2004, and has already scanned the faces, irises and fingerprints of about 10,000 people.
The trial has highlighted many problems, says Sasse. For example, users found it difficult to focus on the iris camera, and relatively tall or short people had problems positioning themselves in front of the unit correctly.
If a user doesn't want a system to work, it won't work. — Bill Perry, Emerging Technology Services Ltd.
Wearing glasses or contact lenses seems to confuse the system, and scanners cannot pick up details of people with faint fingerprints, such as some Asian women.
The scans are also quite time consuming, she adds. "The manufacturers of these systems are doing the whole field a disservice by underestimating the time it takes to use the machines," Sasse says. Perry adds that although the biometric system may eventually bring more security, it will probably mean longer processing times at airports.
Room for improvement
And if people's first experience of biometrics is negative, they may become prejudiced against the technology, making it even less effective. "If a user doesn't want a system to work, it won't work," says Perry, who expects more tests in 2005.
But Sasse says more testing isn't an option. "I don't see how they could possibly have time to do it before October."
A representative of Communications-Electronics Security Group, part of the UK government's communications headquarters in Cheltenham, says, "We've highlighted some security concerns with specific devices, but they can be improved."
"It's undoubtedly a learning curve. It could work perfectly well, on the other hand there might be problems. We just don't know," says the spokesman.
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041213/full/041213-12.html