|
The Open Biometrics Initiative challenges hard and fast classification
of biometric data. Numerous government and private agencies are
working towards large-scale biometric identification systems. Visitors
to the United States are now routinely finger-scanned at border
crossings. In the near future, no official government document will
be issued without a fingerprint, eye or DNA scan. But are you really
who they think you are?
The Open Biometrics Initiative challenges the fabrication
of automated biometric identification. Biometric classification is a probability problem, and can only be correct to a certain degree.
Consequently, this system does not interpret the results in a reductionist binary manner, but offers only a probabilistic result. In the finger
print analysis application here, the system calculates and prints the characteristic points together with their coordinates,
type code (ridge ending or bifurcation) and color-coded likelihood as a probabilistic IDcard.
The popularization of biometric analysis has made the procedure too easy, in the sense that the results are too easily construed to mean what they
only imply. Applied on a large scale, this efficiency driven approach will guarantee errors that are difficult to assess because the internals of the
system are not shared. Large scale public classification systems must be open, open to insight and scrutiny. The Open Biometrics Initiative applies this philosophy
to finger print analysis. Other biometric markers could be treated in a similar fashion. |
Here
is a description of the first version of the Open Biometrics Initiative
(ISEA2002).
|
Here
is a description of the general Open Biometrics Initiative.
|
Here
are notes on the WORLD CARD Project.
|
|
REPOSITORY : the open biometrics initiative
