Proof of identity: U.S. government driving the advance of biometric technologies.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT - Cover story

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BALTIMORE -- TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES ARE developing devices that can scan 10 fingerprints at a time, instantly recognize facial features, irises, veins, voices, the way a person walks or even the shape of ears.

It all falls under the rapidly developing world of "biometrics."

But privacy policies, the technology backbone to effectively connect the scanners--and perhaps most importantly--a market beyond the U.S. government, are lagging, experts said at the Biometric Consortium here.

The need to quickly and accurately confirm the identity of a person is driving the domestic market in the wake of 9/11. Although so far, the federal government is the primary consumer of such devices. Meanwhile, the Defense Department's need to sort out the "good guys" from the "bad guys" in Iraq and Afghanistan is pushing the technology out into the field and challenging the industry to develop smaller and faster devices that can reach back to databases.

Peter Higgins, principal consultant at the Higgins-Hermansen Group LLC, and a leading expert in the field, said the current definition of biometrics is "automated methods of recognizing a person based on a physiological or behavioral characteristic."

Behaviors can be a person's gait, for example, or strokes when signing a name or using a keyboard. Until recently the term "living person" was part of the definition, but it was recently discovered that irises can be scanned up to 48 hours after a subject's demise, which proves how rapidly the field is changing, Higgins said.

The science of collecting fingerprints to identify a person has been around for more than a century. Married to high-speed computers and rapidly improving optics, the field is far beyond the image of Sherlock Holmes peering at fingerprints through a magnifying glass.

Measuring attributes of the human body can be used to verify a person's identity before entering a secure facility, or keeping track of or searching for criminals and terrorists.

Massive biometrics databases are stored in the FBI's automated fingerprint ID system in West Virginia, near the city of Morgantown, which is hoping to market itself as a biometrics innovation hub.

It has had some success. The Defense Department Biometrics Fusion Center and the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division are there. Lockheed Martin chose the area to host its biometric experimentation and advanced concepts division. And West Virginia University is positioning itself as an academic leader in the field. The FBI is also establishing a Biometrics Center of Excellence in the area, Higgins added.

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The main customer for these technologies is the government with the Defense Department leading the pack, said Higgins.

George Schu, vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. and a consultant in the field, said within non-government markets, there has been "hardly any adoption of biometric technology. And there won't be until there is a strong business case for it."

Today, a person must currently rely on the so-called identity trinity: something you know (such as a password), something you have (like an identity card), or something you are, which is where biometrics comes in.

The potential market for biometrics may arrive in the...