January 13, 2005
Angela Pacienza
Canadian Press
TORONTO (CP) - Once considered the domain of science fiction writers, international spy agencies and more recently border guards, fingerprint scanners are showing up in everyday computer peripherals like keyboards, mice and jump drives.
The devices can be sanity-savers for people trying to keep track of online paswords. In the pre-9/11 world, biometrics - technology that allows a machine to identify an individual based on physical features like eyes, face or voice - was largely reserved for use by corporations that needed to protect sensitive financial and research information.
But in recent years governments and border police have turned to biometrics as a more secure way to keep track of travellers. The technology is also being explored for the convenience and security it could bring to people in everyday life.
"As individual consumers, we too have requirements for biometrics that were once the sole reserve of executives and people involved in research and development," says John Challinor of Sony of Canada Ltd., which makes Microvault, a USB jump drive with a built-in fingerprint scanners.
"There's a lot more sensitive information now on a notebook or desktop then there was eight or 10 years ago. Online banking and online shopping have dramatically changed the type of information that we find on a personal computer."
It's the rationale behind Microsoft's line of fingerprint scanners. The product line includes a keyboard with a built-in scanner (about $150) and a stand-alone unit (about $75) linked to the hard drive with a USB connection.
Once programmed, one touch will log you into your e-mail account or any other password-protected website. The scanners also offer a handy way to switch user profiles on a computer shared by several family members.
"Remembering passwords is the first real frustration people have with their PC, so that's what we're using the technology (for)," explains Kim McWhinnie of Microsoft Canada.
But not everyone thinks these devices will catch on with the mainstream crowd.
"You'll get some people that think it's cool but that's not the same as actually using it," says Andy Adler, who teaches engineering at the University of Ottawa and has done extensive studies on biometric security systems.
He says the advantages are minimal since web browsers already commonly save passwords for users.
"It might protect you from your baby sister . . . I don't see someone saying 'That saved me 15 minutes.' "
However, he sees great potential in the retail and financial sectors, where consumers are increasingly concerned about identity theft.
Retailers can apply biometrics to cash registers to keep thieves out. As well, several companies are working on prototype ATM machines that would use iris scanning to identify users.
In Japan, cellphone carriers are testing built-in fingerprint scanners that would allow people to use their phones to make store purchases.
There's even a gas station in Portugal that has a thumbprint reader on its pumps so customers can fill their tanks and pay simultaneously.
A lot of the consumer applications have to do with convenience, explains Glover Ferguson, chief scientist at Accenture Technology Labs which develop biometric gadgets including the Portuguese gas pump.
He points to experiments being conducted, albeit unsuccessfully thus far, with facial recognition at clothing shops.
"It's a more convenient substitute for loyalty cards," he said from his base in Chicago. "Everybody gets tired of packing their wallet with more and more of these cards."
Privacy watchers have warned against biometrics in the public world, fearing a loss of anonymity in a Big Brother-style universe. But Ferguson says people have softened their stance in the post 9/11 world and are growing more concerned with cyber identity theft.
The technology represents "another way to prevent business from being conducted fraudulently - people are going to be attracted to that," he said. "Don't discount the convenience factor. I will be happy to be fingerprinted if I can get through airports quicker," he added.
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