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+-   A national biometrics authentication scheme?-> on Wednesday March 19 2008, @03:59PM Ian Lamont

Submitted by Ian Lamont on Wednesday March 19 2008, @03:59PM
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Ian Lamont writes "The chair of Yale's CS department and Connecticut's former consumer protection commissioner are calling for the creation of a robust biometrics authentication system on a national scale. They say the system would safeguard privacy and people's personal data far more effectively than paper-based IDs. They also reference the troubled Real ID program, saying that the debate has centered around forms of ID rather than the central issue of authentication. The authors further suggest that the debate has led to confusion over anonymity and privacy:

Outside our homes, we have always lived in a public space where our open acts are no longer private. Anonymity has not changed that, but has provided an illusion of privacy and security. ... In public space, we engage in open acts where we have no expectation of privacy, as well as private acts that cannot take place within our homes and therefore require authenticating identity to carve a sphere of privacy. Such private acts might involve receiving medical treatment or conducting financial transactions. Individuals have a strong interest in maintaining control of treatment records that we rightly consider confidential, and knowing that finances cannot be misappropriated or snooped without consent.
The authors do not provide any suggestions for specific biometrics technologies, nor do they discuss the role of the government in such a system. What do you think of a national or international biometrics-based authentication scheme? Is it feasible? How would it work? What safeguards need to be put in place?"

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