January 3, 2010
Altering Fingerprints to Avoid Border and Policing Checks As the below story demonstrates, criminals will always find new and interesting ways to circumvent the controls imposed by government. While the steps taken by the woman in this case were dramatic, perhaps this form of criminality will become more commonplace as time moves on. Will medical operations be the criminal’s response to biometric controls? Is surgery the modern form of a “fake-ID”? From BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8400222.stm It is Japan’s first case of alleged biometric fraud, but police believe the practice may be widespread. Japanese police suspect Chinese brokers of taking huge sums to modify fingerprints surgically. Local media reports said Ms Lin had undergone surgery to swap the fingerprints from her right and left hands. Skin patches on her thumbs and index fingers were removed and then re-grafted on to the matching digits of the opposite hand. Japanese newspapers said police [...]
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January 3, 2010
Iris Biometrics The use of biometrics as a form of security and control has vastly increased in the past several years. While police have long relied upon fingerprints for criminal identification, newer forms of biometric technologies are allowing individuals to be identified via any number of physical characteristics. The most common forms of biometric identification include facial recognition, hand symmetry, iris patterns, retinal scans and even voice recognition. While many in law enforcement and security view biometrics as a valuable tool, the use of these technologies have raised a number of concerns, particularly among civil libertarians and privacy campaigners. No biometric system is infallible and as these technologies proliferate, there will be increasing attempts to circumvent and bypass the controls purportedly offered by these systems. What new forms of identity theft will be enabled through these technologies? How might these technologies be subverted by criminal enterprises? Finally, how might the [...]
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