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Biometrics
is a way of using technology to identify people by reading
the features of parts of their bodies. As such it is
part of a social control system.
The
basic idea is as old as humanity. People identified
others from their tribe by their dress, facial markings
and body tatoos. We identify each other by recognising
each other's faces. But using technology to help recognise
people has taken many forms. It began in the 1800s,
when the police started taking fingerprints from criminals.
Traditional ink fingerprints on paper cards are part
of a low-tech information system for identifying individuals
and storing information about them.
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Finger
imaging
Now new information technology reads fingerprints
electronically. You put your finger onto a glass
scanner plate like the ones in some supermarkets.
The scanner reads your fingerprint and converts
it into a digital code.
This
finger imaging technology is already used
a lot in Australia. Woolworths supermarkets use
finger scanning to record attendance times of
about 100 000 employees. More than 1400 bank ATMs
are unlocked by finger scanning the Armaguard
representative with a mobile scanner that plugs
into the back of the ATM.
Finger
scanning has some problems. Your fingerprint can
be changed by a cut or scar, or worn down by heavy
physical work. Then the technology might have
trouble recognising it. The scanner can also build
up dirt and grease, making it hard for it to read
properly.
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Getting a finger scan. Photo:
Lynne Brakeman. |
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Activity
| 1. |
Using
an ink pad and paper collect ten different fingerprints.
Select people who have had different work experiences
and are of different ages and sex. Examine the fingerprints
carefully. Do this twice to see if you can accurately
match people to fingerprints. |
| 2. |
Explain
why fingerprinting may not be as accurate as other
forms of identification. |
Finger
scanning is just one of the biometric systems already
in use. Two other systems read parts of the eye.
Retina
scan
The retina scan bounces a beam of light off the inside
of your eyeball and reads patterns of blood vessels
there. This also has problems. The reader has to be
very close to your eye, and has to be very accurately
lined up. Also, some people feel worried about having
a beam of light sent into their eye.
Iris
technology
The other part of the eye that can be read is the iris.
This is the coloured part of the eye, and everyone's
is different. This is easier to read than retina scans
because it involves standard video technology, and is
recorded from further away, about 22 centimetres away
from the actual eye.
Other
biometric systems
Other biometric systems already being used include:
- measuring
the geometry of your hand
- video
recognition of your face
- voice
recognition.
These
all have disadvantages:
- hand
shapes can change or be affected by an accident
- people
with similar faces can be mixed up
- people
can change how they look
- people's
voices can change if they're sick or upset
- limitations
of the technology.
Animal
biometrics
Biometrics hasn't just been used to identify people.
Other animals have things about their bodies that are
unique as well. Many animals have noses that have slightly
different patterns on them, just like people have different
fingerprints. Sometimes people use things like animal
noseprints to identify individual animals.
Nose
printing
In the USA pedigree show dogs are noseprinted to make
sure there's no pre-show switching.
In
Africa conservationists trying to help save the gorillas
use noseprints to identify each gorilla, and zoos sometimes
use noseprints to identify some of their animals.
In
some parts of the world livestock are noseprinted. In
Texas show lambs are noseprinted. In Japan noseprints
are used to identify cows. Cows cost a lot of money
in Japan. To make sure you get what you paid for, each
top quality cow comes with a set of papers that includes
a noseprint. This also helps make a positive identification
in case a cow is stolen. More
about Japanese cow noseprints.
More
and more, biometrics is being used to identify animals.
As well as biometrics, genetic testing is starting to
be used to identify animals.
Activity
Ask each class member to noseprint a dog. Ensure you
use non-toxic ink and gain the permission and supervision
of the owner. Comment on how easy or hard it is to differentiate
the dogs.
Genetic
ID
Genetic identification involves testing a person's or
animal's DNA. Everyone has their own unique genetic
blueprint. Genetic technology now lets people read the
DNA of a person and positively identify them. Hence
genetic identification is part
of a control system.
DNA
testing is used for many purposes. It can be used to:
- find
out who is the biological father of a child
- help
identify human remains, like an unidentified body.
It is often used for criminal investigations.
Click
here to find out about some of the things genetic
testing is used for.
Wildlife
conservation
Genetic identification can be used to help with wildlife
conservation. For example, researchers use genetic identification
to identify humpback whales. In the past, they took
photos of the tail of each whale as it swam past. Each
whale was identified by the shape of the tail and its
markings. But this method was not always accurate.
Now
researchers in Byron Bay pick up from the water hundreds
of tiny flakes of skin that naturally fall off when
the whales surface or slap their tails. They analyse
the flakes and read each whale's unique DNA. Now they
can keep track of exactly which whales are on the move,
where they go, how long they live and so on.
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DNA
in criminal investigation
If
someone commits a crime and leaves behind something
from their body, it can be analysed to work out
the DNA of that person. What they leave behind
might be some hair, blood, saliva or semen.
Once
the police know the DNA of the person they are
looking for, they can test their suspects. When
they find someone whose DNA is exactly the same
as the DNA left behind, they know they've got
the person they're after.
At
the end of 2000 police in Sydney arrested a man
for the murder of a young woman who was found
dead in Darlinghurst three years before. The police
took samples of saliva from the men who lived
in a boarding house that backed onto the lane
where the woman was found. One of the samples
matched, and the police made their arrest.
At
the moment, the police in NSW don't have the power
to force lots of people to have DNA tests. In
this case the men gave their samples voluntarily.
So why did the person they arrested agree to give
a sample?
A
similar thing happened earlier in 2000, after
an elderly woman in the town of Wee Waa was raped.
Because it was only a small town, the police asked
all the men to volunteer to give a sample for
DNA testing. Almost everyone did. The feeling
in the town was that if you didn't want to have
the DNA test you must have something to hide.
But a few men refused, even though they had nothing
to do with the crime.
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The
most basic information that can possibly exist about
a person is the actual genes that they're built of,
and that make them who they are. One way of looking
at this issue is that DNA is the most personal information
that there is.
Genetic
identification is often called genetic tagging, but
it is not really tagging. Tagging involves people marking
someone or something to identify it. Genetic identification
is different. It's like biometrics, it involves reading
something that naturally exists about a person or animal,
in this case its DNA.
Activity
Prepare a table to record your critical analysis of
the ethical issues raised by the technologies outlined
in the biometrics section of the case study.
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