Biometrics and kids
- IT TOPICS:Security
A number of Web sites are reporting on plans to use iris scans as a way of identifying kids who are reported missing. Ohio.com reports that the police department in Summit County is looking into the technology, which is supposed to be so precise that it can distinguish between identical twins. The department also figures it would be easier to obtain an iris scan than a fingerprint from a squirmy or nervous kid. The program is available through a nationwide effort called the Children's Identification and Location Database, or the CHILD Project and is open to police departments and social service agencies. According to the Associated Press, via the Charlotte Observer, the child stands about a foot away from a camera that takes a picture of the iris, the colored part of the eye. Parents receive a card that includes a photo and the iris scan and can "decide whether to release the child's information to the national database or just keep the card." The article also notes that it takes about 15 seconds to photograph the iris and about nine seconds to search the database for a match. FIngerprinting, it says, can take weeks.
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