UK biometric passport scheme nipped in the bud?

[Owen Lewis]

 AIR, faking up of fingerprints is not new. I think it must be 25-30 years
since I first heard of a technique. That consisted of photographing the
prints using a high contrast standard silver nitrate photographic film. The
film was then developed using a non-standard process that left the ridges of
the loops and whorls raised in relief. The prints were than cut out of the
film and mounted onto foam pads. Sebum (in the form of natural hair-grease)
was then rubbed onto the copy-print and the image of the copy-print (in
sebum) was transferred to a glass (or whatever) simply by pressing the pad
to it.

This was, of course, before the days of DNA testing but collecting an amount
of a person's sebum does not seem to be an insuperable obstacle.

Come to think of it, neither should collecting someone's retinal pattern be
too hard, once retinal scanners become a commonplace.

I think that the maximum window for the safe use of biometrics in
identification might already have passed unless (say) triple testing were to
be used. I.e. Video recording of faces and hands immediately before and
continuing through the simultaneous scanning of finger and eye.

Did you hear, last week, that govt is to make it an offence to collect a
sample of a person's DNA without their consent? Some hopes! We throw the
stuff away every day of our lives in so many different ways and in different
directions. Which is why more than one senior copper has hankered after a
national DNA databank for all persons born it (or presumably otherwise
entering this fair land). They might well have their wish granted too, one
of these days - though I'd bet that the presentation would be one of
medical/public health improvement, rather than plain old snoopy Plod.

What bureaucratic nonsense next? Barbers to be licensed and required to
register under the Data Protection Act?? Not to mention laundries, public
sanitation engineers, ladies of the night, pubs and restaurants....

Owen

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukcrypto-admin@chiark.greenend.org.uk
> [mailto:ukcrypto-admin@chiark.greenend.org.uk]On Behalf Of Quentin
> Campbell
> Sent: 20 May 2002 08:48
> To: ukcrypto@chiark.greenend.org.uk
> Subject: UK biometric passport scheme nipped in the bud?
>
>
> Further fuel to iris vs fingerprint biometrics debate. The URL below
> provides further links of interest to this list. It is interesting in
> the light of the suggestion that the UK Passport Service wants to
> introduce passport smart cards by 2006 which would contain data on
> either an iris scan or fingerprints.
>
> What "biometrics" are used and to what purpose in asylum seeker ID
> cards? The reference is that "Since January 31, asylum seekers in the UK
> have been issued with biometric cards holding family details,
> nationality, date of birth and other information".
>
> Schneier and others have also commented on the work reported below.
>
> ------
>
>       * Fingerprint Scanners: 80% Defeated!
>
> The Register site reported that a Japanese cryptographer has
> demonstrated
> how fingerprint recognition devices can be fooled using a combination of
>
> low cunning, cheap kitchen supplies and a digital camera.