Biometric Technologies and Ethics

Abstract

This chapter starts off by discussing. Biometric technologies as access and identification processes. Biometric technologies confirm a person’s identity by scanning physical characteristics such as a fingerprint, voice, eye movement, and facial recognition. We discuss how a typical biometric system operates in two distinct stages: the enrollment stage and the authentication stage. We also discuss biometric technologies traits used to confirm a person’s identity that include fingerprint, voice, eye movement, facial recognition, and a few others. Finally in discussing the ethical issues faced in the use of biometric technologies, we pose the following questions to the reader:

• For respect for human dignity—In substituting names with codes, might biometrics degrade the human condition to that of animals or things?

• For “informatization” of the human body—Is there any risk linked to the digitalization of human attributes and their distribution across the global information network?

• For data protection and Privacy—What level of protection do biometric data deserve? Is there any risk related to the possible linkage of several biometric databases?

• For respect for intimacy and body integrity—Is there any risk that biometrics may be felt as heavily intrusive technologies?

• Biases based on human attributes:

  • Can ethnicity be derived from biometric data?

  • Do different ethnic types find it more or less difficult to use a particular biometric technique?

  • Is there any risk of discrimination based on ethnicity?

  • Is there any risk of categorization through profiling groups of people?

The answers to these questions inform our discussion.