From David Bennett
I’m not an enormous fan of the trend towards biometric IDs because I believe most systems will only assist individuals with a serious leaning towards ID theft. People are likely to become so accustomed to the use of a technology that it ceases to be questioned, and therefore becomes unreasonably trusted.
However, according to your short technology news item, IBM seems to have almost cracked a major part of my concerns by having a “secret code” that is used to distort the image recorded on the card (21 February, p 23). But then it goes and spoils it by suggesting that the said “secret code” should be recorded on the ID card too. Why not simply leave it unrecorded and have it entered for verification by the individual owning the ID, as we do with other PINs? That would be far more secure – until someone develops the technology to scan my thoughts at a distance.
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK
