fingerprint

OTTAWA -- The 2002 film Minority Report depicts a society that keeps tabs on its citizens by swiftly scanning their irises when they exit subway cars or enter buildings. The same technology verifies the identity of those authorized to enter restricted areas.

At the time the Stephen Spielberg film was released, the biometric world it depicted still seemed far off. But in the five years since, systems that rely on biometric samples of fingerprints or iris and facial scans to establish identity have become so ubiquitous some suggest we're witnessing the birth of the biometric state.

"Prehistoric."

"A concoction."

"Something like a doorbell."

That's how electronics expert Nick VandenBrekel describes his company's first attempt at constructing a door lock that opened with a fingerprint scan instead of a key.

No-fly lists aren't the only way authorities in Canada and the United States are trying to deal with the threat of aviation terrorism.

Another strategy is the joint Canadian-U.S. NEXUS traveller program, which allows low-risk travellers to cross the border more easily -- as long as they're willing to submit to a background check and provide fingerprints and other personal data.

NEXUS air, highway and marine programs were consolidated last month into a single "trusted traveller" program. NEXUS, which started in 2002, now has more than 110,000 members in Canada and the U.S.

 

A Williams Elementary-Middle School newsletter has raised student privacy concerns with at least one Williams resident and attracted the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona.

The November 2006 edition of the newsletter contained an announcement under "Cafeteria News" that the school would soon begin using fingerprint scanning technology to identify students in the school lunch line.

Drivers pulled over by police are to have their fingerprints scanned by the side of the road. A pilot scheme for a new hand-held electronic fingerprint reader is to be launched in Luton, Bedfordshire, by officers targeting motoring offences. Police hope the Lantern device will save time and money by allowing them to identify suspects on the roadside without having to take them to the station. It lets officers search a national database of 6.5m fingerprints and get a result within five minutes.