CSC 379:Week 4, Group 4

Biometrics and Privacy of Genetic Data

A concern with ID cards that contain biometric information is that once one is stolen, it would be more difficult for someone to reclaim their identity as the nature of the representation of biometric data that would be used would be something that would not change over a person’s lifetime (e.g. fingerprints or eye-scan)[1]. Thus for technologies that rely solely on the biometric data contained within the IDs to establish identity, once a card is stolen, ones “identity” may never be able to be reclaimed.

Ethical issues related to privacy of genetic data follow closely with this topic since it suffers from similar issues as biometrics, although genetic data is much more invasive to ones privacy as society becomes more able to interpret it. There have been discussions of a constitutional amendment to prohibit genetic discrimination. If ones genetic information is made available, or information derived from, it opens the person to an increased threat of discrimination (jobs, insurance, social), as well as other threats to privacy not yet realized, but that will likely be realized within ones lifetime as there becomes a greater capability to interpret genetic data.

What types of protections should be afforded to biometric data compared to other types of data? For genetic data? Should biometric/genetic data be incorporated into various technology from ID cards to diagnostic equipment? Examine ethical issues related storage and use.

Resources

Relevant External Links:

The National Science and Technology Council some good resources related to biometrics and privacy issues.

• Introduction to Biometrics
• Biometrics and Privacy

Wikipedia's article on biometrics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometrics

EFF has an introduction to some concerns voiced about biometrics: http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/biometrics/

Relevant Class Website Links:

• http://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/privacy/web/identity/

What are Biometrics?

A biometric is a measure of some physical or behavioural characteristic of an individual. These measurements can then be used to identify and individual or at least aid in confirming a claimed identity. Some examples of human characterisitcs that can be convieniently caputred in a biometric include: Fingerprints, Retinal scan, Voice, Signature, DNA, Gait. After your individual information is recorded it can be used in a biometric system.

Biometric systems have several purposes. They can verify that a person is who they claim to be by checking your information against the data the system has on you. A biometric system can identify you without you telling the system who you are by your physiological or behavioral characteristics. And biometric systems can also be used to screen individuals. The system may raise a flag or alert the police if it identifies you as being on it's watch list.