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2. What is biometric technology?
2.1 Everyone has physical or behavioural characteristics that are unique to them and change little over time. Fingerprints are a well-known example and fingerprint details can be measured and recorded for subsequent identification purposes. There are other characteristics that can be used in this way, such as retina and iris patterns, voice, facial shape, hand measurements and behavioural characteristics such as handwriting and typing patterns.
2.2 Biometric technology describes the range of technologies used to measure, analyse and record one or more of these unique characteristics. The technology is generally used to support processes which require confirmation of identity. Typically such processes involve:
- registration or authentication of identity (for example the recording of a fingerprint as belonging to Jane Doe);
- allocation of entitlements to people who have registered;
- subsequent verification of identity (this person is indeed the Jane Doe who registered and who has the entitlement);
- and sometimes identification (this person is not in fact Jane Doe, but another).
2.3 There are two approaches to recording an individual's biometric characteristics. The first is to record a complete image of, for example, a fingerprint. The second is to take measurements that adequately capture the uniqueness of the source but do not capture a complete image. It is the second approach that is most likely to be used in schools where biometric technology systems are put in place. A number of schools in Scotland have already put in place or are considering putting in place such systems. With such an approach the manufacturers of such systems state that the original cannot be reconstructed from the data. That is, it is not possible for example, to recreate a pupil's fingerprint or even the image of a fingerprint from what is in effect a string of numbers.
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