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Web posted
By Frank Witsil
Staff Writer
Someday, experts say, your eye may unlock an array of things.
The pattern of your iris may replace the password to your computer, the
personal identification number to your bank account, even the key to
your front door.
More than 100 companies are making machines to identify you using
distinguishing physical characteristics -- the uniqueness of your eyeball,
for example -- or certain behavioral traits -- the way you move your lips
when you speak, perhaps.
Experts are predicting that the technology -- known as biometrics -- will
become prevalent in many industries within the next few years.
Biometrics is being tested and used in automated teller machines and
corporate security systems.
``It's becoming a common thing,'' said Bill Barrett, an adjunct engineering
professor at the National Biometric Test Center at San Jose State
University in California. ``I think the public is going to welcome it.''
Other forward-thinking people are dreaming of other applications,
too. Just imagine: No more forgotten passwords. No more lost keys. The
safe and convenient identification devices found in James Bond novels
and Star Trek films are a reality.
A few them already are in the Augusta area.
Biometric methods
Biometric technology is not new. Experts say it actually dates back
thousands of years, when civilizations identified people using scars,
complexion, eye color and height. As early as the 19th century,
criminologists tried to correlate physical characteristics with criminal
behavior.
Now, biometric science is much more sophisticated. There are several
biometric identification methods and devices. Here are a few of them:
Signature verification.
A process used for a long time by credit card
companies. This technology uses your signature or other unique mark for
identification.
Fingerprint verification.
There is a variety of approaches to this. There
are fingerprint scans and fingerprint chips. The FBI has been using
fingerprint identification for years. Accuracy in reading and matching
fingerprints seems to be good, but it is also easy to fake, experts say.
Hand geometry.
This method measures the physical characteristics of the hand or fingers
-- sometimes from a three-dimensional perspective. More than 800
employees at Plant Vogtle use a hand geometry device made by
Recognition Systems' ID3D to get clearance into the super secure
nuclear facility. A worker puts his or her right hand on a scanner that
reads it and the machine matches the image to another one on file.
Face recognition.
This technique compares two images of the face for identification.
Customers cashing checks at local convenience stores with Mr. Payroll
machines use a face recognition technology that compares a customer's
face to a photograph in the system. The Fort Worth, Texas-based
company that makes the machines plans to install hundreds more within
the next few months, company spokesman David Doremus said. Voice
recognition.
Products that uses voice recognition include the fun, but very real, Star
Biometric Security system. This device locks out
unwanted users of home computers by matching spoken words with a
person's individual voice characteristics.
Iris scanning.
This technology looks at the iris, the round pigmented
membrane surrounding the pupil of the eye. Each person's iris is unique.
Some experts believe this is the best system because the iris pattern is
difficult to duplicate, but it is easy to read. A camera can scan the iris two
or three feet away. The problem with the iris scan is that it is difficult toget a reading from brown eyes that are heavily pigmented.
Retinal scanning.
This process looks at the retina with a low intensity light source. It
requires the user to look into a device and focus on a given point and
therefore is not always convenient -- especially for people with glasses.
Retinal scanning, however, is accurate and hard to trick, local
vitreoretinal specialist Randy Dhaliwal said. Each person -- even each
eye -- has its own retinal pattern, he said.
The ophthalmologist believes retinal scanning is better than iris
scanning. ``Retinal scanning is the ultimate,'' he said.
`Star Trek' technology
Thirty years ago, when Patrick Blanchard started his banking career, he
never imagined that there might be machines that scan a customer's iris
or recognize someone by the tremble of their voice. ``I never thought
about it,'' the First Bank chief executive officer said. But now, the banker
predicts that biometric ATMs will be everywhere, including Augusta, in 3
to 5 years. Biometrics has many implications for the banking industry, he
said. No one, however, seems to know what will be the standard method
for identification.
In Europe, for example, an experimental ATM uses speech and face
recognition systems and has a third failsafe device -- it records the way
the lips move. Using multiple methods of identification increases the
machine's accuracy, experts say.
Last year, U.S. Rep. Michael N. Castle, then chairman of the domestic
and international monetary policy subcommittee, held a hearing on
biometrics and the future of money.
``I wonder,'' Mr. Castle posed during the hearing, ``how many of us would
cheerfully trade in all of these multidigit codes if we could use one unique,
secure, personal identifier for every purpose, one that was always at hand
and could not be stolen, lost, forgotten or duplicated.''
Jeffrey Dunn, co-chairman of the National Biometric Consortium, spoke
at the hearing. Every day, more and more actions are being handled
electronically instead of face to face, Mr. Dunn noted. ``Biometric
technology,'' Mr. Dunn said, ``is one means to achieve fast, user-friendly
authentication with a high level of accuracy.'' He sited some examples:
fingerprint recognition at Fort Sill, Okla., and hand, voice and face
recognition at U.S. border crossings. Even Disney World, he pointed out,
uses a finger geometry system that tracks thousands of annual pass
holders.
Some companies are finding ways people can use biometrics at home.
New Jersey-based QVoice, is marketing WhoIsIt
and Star Trek biometric security. The voice, face and fingerprint recognition software allows home computer owners
to protect sensitive information. It costs about
$99 and simulates the
fictional, futuristic technology.
In principal, though, the technology that Star Trek creator Gene
Roddenberry imagined Capt. James T. Kirk using in the future is the
same science that you soon might use at your local bank.
``The future,'' QVoice President Norm Hughes said, ``is now.''
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