Identity Theft: Is Biometrics the Answer?
Tom Cruise, Matt Damon and Keanu Reeves are all some of the Hollywood faces that have increased public awareness of biometrics technology in their recent films. But is biometrics still only a thing of the big screen? With identity theft rapidly on the rise, and a minimum of 9 million Americans victimized each year, biometrics may be the only answer in an ever expanding technological society.
Think for a moment about how much of your personal information is transmitted over the internet. There’s online banking, online bill pay, online credit card accessibility… You can even access your credit report or file your taxes electronically. All of those things may be considered safe practices, but only because someone has yet to figure out how to hack into those systems and compromise your personal information. Chances are there is an identity thief working on those very things right this minute.
What is Biometrics?
Anyone who has seen Tom Cruise portray Chief John Anderton in 2002’s blockbuster hit Minority Report, or who has seen Matt Damon bring Jason Bourne to life in the Bourne trilogy, has at least a vague idea of how biometrics works. Biometrics is a highly advanced scanning system that uses inferred technology to inspect a person’s unique elements like fingerprints, facial features, pupils or voice patterns in order to identify a person’s unique identity and allow him or her access to prized information. A society reliant on biometrics would be able to do away with common forms of identity like driver’s licenses, passports or even credit cards because all sensitive information (back accounts, social security numbers, etc…) could be stored in a person’s fingerprints or in the retina of his or her eye. Obviously, this would make credit card theft a thing of the past.
Although it sounds more like a science fiction movie than the future of reality, biometrics does offer increased security when it comes to identity theft protection. After all, the only person with access to your fingers, your voice, your face and your eyes is you. This system could make the world as you know it easier. And it could serve to help those who are currently the most helpless when it comes to identity theft—children (400,000 of which are victimized each year) and the elderly. However, biometrics systems also pose huge potential problems for those very same demographic groups.
Why Hasn’t Biometrics Been Implemented Yet?
Because biometrics systems center on the very details scanned, making sure that the slightest deviations from the records on file are spotted (so that fraud can’t be committed), aging and disease pose serious problems. Children’s voices and physical appearances are constantly changing ruling out voice or facial recognition systems, and the elderly commonly fall victim to ailments like cataracts and glaucoma which would make pupil scanning and recognition impossible. Those aren’t the only two demographics for which biometrics might not be reliable. Anyone who has watched the movies knows that savvy identity thieves would find new ways to continue practicing their crime. Face altering plastic surgery could be an option for a thief bent on stealing someone else’s identity.
Failed Methods of Biometrics
In the early 2000s, while films depicting biometrics-reliant technology were reigning at the box office, several now defunct companies burst on the scene hoping to capture the trust of consumers everywhere. Yet, Americans remained hesitant to literally hold all of their personal information in their fingertips. San Francisco based Pay By Touch was a privately held company that allowed consumers to pay for goods and services with a simple swipe of their fingertip. Checking account, credit card and healthcare information was all accessible through the verification of a single finger print. Unfortunately, on March 19, 2008 the company—without warning—shut its doors.
Their only competitor, Bio Pay, had been acquired by them in 2006 and ceased all similar services on the same day. Together they boasted over 3.6 million customers at their peak, but apparently that wasn’t enough to keep them in business. Now all that remains of the partnership is a biometric check cashing business (http://paychecksecure.com/main/home.asp) that employs the use of a fingerprint scan to verify a person’s identity when cashing checks. Apparently, some technology is still too advanced for the majority of the population to embrace. And some people would prefer to have lifestyle altering technology like this tried and tested before being willing to try it themselves.
Current Options for Those Who Want to Try Biometrics Technology
In addition to Paycheck Secure, another biometrics product currently on the market is APC’s BioPod biometric password manager (http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=246&ISOCountryCode=US) which is accessible through a USB port. The product is sold by retailers like amazon.com and has mixed reviews from consumers. Some are eagerly promoting its “cool factor” while others are bemoaning the difficulty of setting up such new technology. Those who find such systems useful are those who no longer want to keep track of their multiple passwords for all of their online accounts. Instead of accessing their bank website and logging in as normal, people with APC’s Biopod are now prompted by a digital voice for “biometric authorization”. Retailing for around $40 each, these pods might be a good way to expose yourself to a system that very well might become advanced enough to take over the world.
For those of you who remain hesitant to embrace such technology outside of movie theatres, keep checking back with us here at IdentityTheft.com as we will continue to write and dialogue about this issue as it gains more attention and garners more support. As always, we would love to read your thoughts on this (or any identity theft related) issue in the comments section below.