Chaos Review

Biometrics is the science of identifying human beings by measuring and analyzing unique characteristics. Currently, such characteristics include iris patterns in the eye, several aspects of voice, and fingerprinting - of which there are two types. One type, which does not use the inkpad approach you see on detective shows on TV, measures distance and depth of fingerprint ridges.

Fingerprinting is the most common biometric method, as retina scanning is expensive, and there is disagreement in the scientific community about the uniqueness of voice. Fingerprinting, however, is not 100% reliable. Apparently some people cannot be fingerprinted, either because of thin skin, injuries to fingers, or sustained use of chemicals such as cleaning agents. For such people, other methods of unique identification must be used.

Biometrics is typically used in applications of identification, to give authorized people access to secure areas. It’s also being tested as a system of cashless payment, as an alternate to RFID-enabled smartcards.