Biometrics - Privacy

Questions often arise about privacy and biometrics. It’s a common misconception that a biometric device actually records an optical image. This is untrue. In fact, biometric devices never capture or use optical images. Instead, unique data is extracted from the live sample to create a template. The template basically contains point to point or vector measurement data.

Privacy is maintained because:

• Only measurements, distances and points are kept; not an optical image.
• Measurements are encrypted and can’t be undone to recreate an image.
• If the template was decrypted then all that would remain is a set of measurements. There is no indication of to whom it belonged.

Identity fraud is a serious problem that is gradually being solved globally by the use of biometric technology. Currently, all of your details are available to anyone who has a PIN, password, or "hacked" access to customer records. These standard systems of protection can be easily copied and used without your knowledge.

Biometric technology is proving to be the only viable option able to preserve personal privacy because it’s designed to give the user total control over access to their information, and provide a clear audit trail if someone tries to obtain data from their records.

In summary, biometric technology has been designed to enhance your privacy. The Australian Government takes privacy concerns very seriously and has stringent laws in place to maintain privacy for every citizen of the nation. The Australian Government is currently reviewing biometric technology in relation to the Privacy Act in an effort to officially approve the use of biometric technology for identification and authentication purposes.

The Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are now issuing passports with a biometric template stored on a chip inside the passport. This is used to biometrically identify the person carrying the passport.