Sunday, August 1, 2010

Scenes from blockbuster film ‘Minority Report’ could become a reality, Nichola Jones discovers

When sci-fi blockbuster ‘Minority Report’ was released in 2002, the film sparked debate over privacy and the use of biometrics despite being set in the future.

But a world where your every move is tracked and an eye scan replaces passport control is not that far away.

Security chiefs and government officials from across the world are arriving in Dubai today to discuss how to make airports safer and weed out terror threats.

Biometrics is a hot topic at the top of the agenda and the boss of the European Biometrics Forum, Max Snijder, is leading the debate.  “When these films are made, they do their research. What you see in Minority Report is not rubbish,” he told 7DAYS.

“In the last five years we have seen rapid development in technology that has opened up many possibilities for biometrics.” Biometrics are automated methods of recognising a person.

The most common form used is fingerprinting but now there is a raft of high-tech ways to check identity. Currently, face recognition and fingerprinting are used by some European countries at border crossing but in five years time, Snijder says eye scanning could be commonplace along with hand geometry, 3D imaging of the head and even vein pattern analysis.

As well as tightening up security worldwide, the other aim of biometrics is to cut the time and manpower involved carrying out checks at borders and airports. 

Biometric passports are yet to be introduced in the Middle East but are commonplace in Europe although most countries, including the UK, keep only a digital image of the holder.

Although it might seem the likes of eye-scanning identification are almost impossible to fail, Snijder says false readings do happen with all biometric techniques which could either see someone banned from travelling or given the green light when they should be stopped.

He explained: “With all forms, there are such things as a ‘false reject’ when sometimes the system doesn’t recognise the person.

There are also instances of a ‘false accept’.

Biometrics should be used to complement security measures, not replace them.”

The industry is keen to highlight the importance of intelligence gathering and believes airport security should be the last line of defence.

Snijder says this was highlighted by the attempted terrorist attack in America on December 25.

He believes the subsequent introduction of body scanners at airports was a knee-jerk reaction that could prove to be ineffective.

“The man in that case was known to the authorities,” he said.

“The sharing of information was the problem.

The problem with body scanners is the way the decision was taken to install them. It was political.

They have not been tested and we don’t know how effective they are and there will be less openness about that now.”

The use of biometrics has been criticised by civil rights groups across the globe amid fears the information could be abused and is an invasion of privacy.

Snijder said: “People should be worried about it. I worry about it.

If my fingerprint or my other details are misused, it is serious.

These biometrics can be used for tracking and tracing a person.

For a citizen it will be very difficult to know when they are being tracked.”

Snijder also warned that individuals may not even know their details had been taken. He said: “For example, if you are in a country where it is a serious crime to be gay or be a political activist, the police or the government could just go to a place where they might find those people, scan the irises of everyone in the crowd and identify everyone.

All they need is the camera and they can be very small - you may not even realise you had been logged.”

The airport security conference runs until Wednesday.

Sophisticated Technology
3D Face Recognition
Multiple cameras are used to create an accurate 3D-image of the head and face which can then be recognised by a CCTV system.

Vein Patterns and Blood viscosity
Each person has a unique pattern of veins and arteries. Sensors sit on the skin of the palm and map out the pattern a few centimetres below.

Eye scanning
An image of the unique pattern of the iris is captured by a camera and stored. The split-second process is so sophisticated you may not even realise the pattern has been taken.

Fingerprint checks
The fingerprint is the most commonly used form of biometrics in the world and is currently in use at e-gates at airports around the world.

nichola.jones@7days.ae