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To: steve who wrote (23524)	12/19/2002 8:30:19 PM
From: steve	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26039

Biometrics is new wave of identification technology Scanners can identify and authenticate people By Brice Wallace Deseret News business writer Recall the original "Star Trek" and its wonderful sliding doors — pfffft! — opening as folks neared? Now imagine them clearing the way for only certain people. That kind of technology for increased security is in development, with tons of possible applications. It is just one of many types of biometrics — devices or technology used to analyze human characteristics to extract a unique key. Michael Berry, president of Sandy-based People Tech Inc., said the door-opening technology uses a sonogram to bounce sound waves off a face or body, and computers check the sound echoes to determine who is approaching. Door opening is only one application. "The idea is you could walk up to this sonogram sensor and it basically knows who you are before you have to push anything, touch anything or say anything, and the door opens or whatever," Berry said at the recent Connect 2002 technology conference. The ever-expanding field of biometrics primarily has two uses. One is authentication, ensuring a person is indeed who he claims to be. The other is identification, being able to determine who a person is. Biometrics for authentication generally are used with some other form of security system, such as a code or card reader, he said. Identification requires comparing new data with some reconfigured data to search for matches, such as those in a crime database. Existing technology includes fingerprint and palm scanners. Also available are iris scanners that take a peek at the colored part of the eye, photograph it and note any variations or distinguishing characteristics. "Don't confuse iris scanning with what you see in the James Bond movies," Berry said. "Those are retina scans, where they shoot a laser into your eyeball. Retina scans have been around for a while, but it's very unpopular and in fact are being phased out because there are questions about what kind of damage is being done when a laser beam shoots into the back of your eyeball and reaches the blood vessel mapping of your eyeball. "It's very intrusive technology. This iris scanning is much newer technology, much safer, nonintrusive. It's just a simple picture." The camera looks somewhat like a vertical ViewMaster and costs less than $500, he said. The future of biometrics will feature more elaborate devices. One recognizes voice characteristics. "I'm not talking about when you talk to an AT&T computer on the phone and tell it your credit card number," Berry said. "I'm talking about where it can tell 'this is Jim's voice and not Jack's voice.' "That's work under development, and we're still a few years away from that, but it will be exciting technology when it becomes available." Facial recognition technology has been around for a short while and was nearly put to work during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. West Valley City was ready to use it at the E Center before the Salt Lake Organizing Committee turned thumbs down on the venture. It has yet to be used at the E Center. The technology allows a computer to scan crowds, take photos of faces and measure the distance between each person's facial features. Those measurements, put in numeric form, can be compared to those stored in databases. West Valley has FaceTrac, which can use the photos to measure 128 facial features. "You have a computer that can look at a whole crowd of people and scan them very quickly and say, 'OK, this person may be on the FBI most wanted list' or 'this person may have bounced a check last week' and be able to process the information needed," Berry said. The technology was used at Super Bowl XXXV, dubbed by some people the "Snooper Bowl." Critics have charged the technology invades privacy, which Berry acknowledged is an issue. "It's a little intriguing. A little scary, actually. We'll probably see some lawsuits on that kind of stuff the next few years," he said. Berry's demo of the existing biometrics technology confirmed its portability. The iris scanner, a fingerprint scanner and a small camera all were hand-sized or smaller and could be operated with a laptop computer. Berry emphasized that security needs will determine how much should be spent on items. Portable fingerprint scanners cost between $99 and $1,500, he said, and Mike Freeland of Salt Lake City Corp. noted that "in reality, the city is not going to go out and buy a $1,500 reader to sit on everybody's desk" to eliminate employees' needs to enter computer passwords. But the technology is making inroads. Berry said Atlanta is using the iris scanning for its city employees. "It's available today, so it's just an education issue. This is kind of a new thing. We've seen it in the labs and on TV and in James Bond movies, but nobody really has it yet at their desk in large numbers." deseretnews.com steve