Biometric scan pilot reveals problems

RESULTS of a pilot project which took biometric scans of thousands of volunteers in Britain showed varying results yesterday.

The report revealed the facial verification technology, which measures the distances between a person's features, was the least successful biometric. Success rates were 69% for a representative sample of 2,000 people and 48% in a sample of 750 disabled people.

Fingerprint verification was successful in 81% of the larger sample and 80% among disabled people.

Iris verification worked properly in 96% of cases overall and 91% among the disabled volunteers, the results showed.

It took just under eight minutes to carry out the enrolment process in the sample of 2,000.

However, the iris scan technology was less successful with black people and people aged over 59, the report said. "Further work is needed in this area to identify the reasons for this and to identify solutions."

British Home Office minister Tony McNulty said: "I don't think it's fair to say that it discriminates (against those two groups).

"We are not about to install a system that discriminates it would be absurd to suggest that we were."

The results suggested different equipment was needed because scanners used in the trial were sometimes too small to cope with volunteers with large fingers.

Officials also needed to consider what to do if someone was being scanned when they had a bandaged finger or an eye infection.