[privacy] Stealthy Iris Scanner in the Works

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://www.livescience.com/scienceoffiction/070206_technovelgy.html
 

Stealthy Iris Scanner in the Works
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By Bill Christensen
 <http://www.technovelgy.com/> 
posted: 06 February 2007
02:05 pm ET

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A public iris scanning device has been proposed in a patent from Samoff Labs
in New Jersey. The device is able to scan the iris of the eye without the
knowledge or consent of the person being scanned. The device uses multiple
cameras, and then combines images to create a single scan (see diagram
<http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=930> ). 


Iris recognition is a biometric
<http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Technology-Article.asp?ArtNum=12>
identification system that requires a high-resolution picture of the irides
of the subject's
<http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/051128_eye_works.html> eye. Pattern
recognition software is then used to match that picture against future iris
<http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Technology-Article.asp?ArtNum=64> scans. 

Iris scans are considered highly accurate; current iris
<http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Technology-Article.asp?ArtNum=65> recognition
algorithms have an incredibly low false match rate. Good quality scans
result in a "false match" less than one time per one hundred billion (this
system has been used with excellent results in the United
<http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?imgid=2
86&gid=21> Arab Emirates). 

The significant advantage of the newly proposed system is that it allows
iris scans to be taken without the knowledge or participation of the
subject. Read the relevant quote from the patent application: 

"...a system for obtaining iris biometric information includes an array of
cameras defining an image capture volume for capturing an image of an iris;
and an image processor, coupled to the array of cameras, for determining at
least one suitable iris image for processing from the images generated for
the image capture volume ... A subject within the capture volume is
repeatedly imaged to produce a plurality of images of the subject. The
plurality of images are processed to extract at least one clear image of the
subject's iris."

The availability of a public iris scanning device could greatly alter the
nature of public spaces. In the 2002 movie Minority Report, filmmaker Steven
Spielberg shows Tom Cruise's character walking through a mall. As he does
so, public iris  <http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1213>
scanning devices repeatedly identify him, and then target him for
personalized advertisements. At one point in the film, a "false match" is
caused by surgery - Cruise's character has both of his eyes replaced (see
clip <http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=930> ).


Read more about ideas and inventions from Minority
<http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/AuthorSpecAlphaList.asp?BkNum=295> Report,
including the public iris
<http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1213> scanning device. See
also covert iris scanners
<http://www.newscientist.com/blog/invention/2007/02/covert-iris-scanner.html
> . Thanks to reader Adi for the tip on this item.

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