UK ID project may have fingerprint issues
23 June, 2008
category: Biometrics, Government
UK’s Identity and Passport Service’s biometric ID card project may have some possible issues due to fingerprint errors, according to a Silicon.com article. The Biometrics Assurance Group, and independent UK-based biometrics group, has warned that the project, which is to be rolled out over the next four years in the UK, is facing possible serious issues due to expected mismatched or unclear fingerprints taken for the ID cards.
The worry is that the errors will affect not only the technical elements of the project, but the business process as well. The group suggests that handling of these issues will take up a large amount of the resources devoted to it, possibly raising cost issues as well.
Beyond general errors, they further expect that there will be significant issues with the four million people over the age of 75 in the UK, a group that is particularly hard to fingerprint.
To alleviate the potential issues, the Biometrics Assurance Group suggested adopting iris scans as a back-up to the fingerprints. Identity and Passport Services, however, has stated that it is an unlikely route for the project due to raises in costs.
Read the full article here.