Summary of a Workshop on the Technology, Policy, and Cultural Dimensions of Biometric Systems
Kristen Batch, Lynette I. Millett, Joseph N. Pato, Editors
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
Support for this project was provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Award No. N00174-03-C-0074) and by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Homeland Security with assistance from the National Science Foundation (Award No. IIS-0344584). Any opinions expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the agencies and organizations that provided support for the project.
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WHITHER BIOMETRICS COMMITTEE
JOSEPH N. PATO,
Hewlett-Packard Labs,
Chair
BOB BLAKLEY,
IBM Tivoli Software
JEANETTE BLOMBERG,
IBM Almaden Research Center
JOSEPH P. CAMPBELL,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lincoln Laboratory
GEORGE T. DUNCAN,
Carnegie Mellon University
DELORES ETTER,
U.S. Naval Academy*
GEORGE R. FISHER,
Prudential-Wachovia (retired)
STEVEN P. GOLDBERG,
Georgetown University Law Center
PETER T. HIGGINS,
Higgins-Hermansen Group, LLC
PETER B. IMREY,
Cleveland Clinic
ANIL K. JAIN,
Michigan State University
GORDON LEVIN,
The Walt Disney World Company
LAWRENCE D. NADEL,
Mitretek Systems
JAMES L. WAYMAN,
San Jose State University
Staff
LYNETTE I. MILLETT, Senior Program Officer
KRISTEN BATCH, Associate Program Officer
MARGARET MARSH HUYNH, Senior Program Assistant
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
JOSEPH F. TRAUB,
Columbia University,
Chair
ERIC BENHAMOU,
Benhamou Global Ventures, LLC
DAVID D. CLARK,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
CSTB chair emeritus
WILLIAM DALLY,
Stanford University
MARK E. DEAN,
IBM Almaden Research Center
DAVID J. DEWITT,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
DEBORAH ESTRIN,
University of California, Los Angeles
JOAN FEIGENBAUM,
Yale University
KEVIN KAHN,
Intel Corporation
JAMES KAJIYA,
Microsoft Corporation
MICHAEL KATZ,
University of California, Berkeley
RANDY H. KATZ,
University of California, Berkeley
SARA KIESLER,
Carnegie Mellon University
BUTLER W. LAMPSON,
Microsoft Corporation,
CSTB member emeritus
TERESA H. MENG,
Stanford University
TOM M. MITCHELL,
Carnegie Mellon University
FRED B. SCHNEIDER,
Cornell University
WILLIAM STEAD,
Vanderbilt University
ANDREW J. VITERBI,
Viterbi Group, LLC
JEANNETTE M. WING,
Carnegie Mellon University
RICHARD E. ROWBERG, Acting Director
JON EISENBERG, Acting Associate Director
KRISTEN BATCH, Associate Program Officer
JENNIFER M. BISHOP, Program Associate
JANET BRISCOE, Manager, Program Operations
RENEE HAWKINS, Financial Associate
MARGARET MARSH HUYNH, Senior Program Assistant
HERBERT S. LIN, Senior Scientist
LYNETTE I. MILLETT, Senior Program Officer
JANICE SABUDA, Senior Program Assistant
TED SCHMITT, Program Officer
GLORIA WESTBROOK, Senior Program Assistant
BRANDYE WILLIAMS, Staff Assistant
For more information on CSTB, see its Web site at <http://www.cstb.org>, write to CSTB, National Research Council, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001, call (202) 334-2605, or e-mail the CSTB at cstb@nas.edu.
Preface
Biometrics—the automatic identification or identity verification of human individuals on the basis of physiological and behavioral characteristics—is receiving much attention from many quarters. Promoted as a means to combat terrorism, to increase security, to boost efficiency, and to lessen inconvenience, biometrics is being considered, developed, and deployed in corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit institutions. Questions persist, however, about the effectiveness of biometric security measures, biometric systems’ usability and manageability along with their appropriateness in widely varying contexts, the effects of federal privacy policy on use and deployment, and the social impact of such technologies.
In 2003 the Committee on Authentication Technologies and Their Privacy Implications issued the report Who Goes There? Authentication Through the Lens of Privacy. Biometric technologies were one of several authentication technologies considered in that report. Subsequent to its publication, the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board held several discussions with various federal agencies interested in biometrics. Jonathon Phillips (then at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [DARPA]), Gary Strong (then at the Department of Homeland Security [DHS]), and Andrew Kirby (of the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]) were active participants in stimulating the discussions and moving them forward. The discussions resulted in agreement to undertake a comprehensive assessment of biometrics that examines current capabilities, future possibilities, and the role of government in their development. Funding for the project was obtained from DARPA and from the CIA and DHS with assistance from the National Science Foundation. The Whither Biometrics Committee was appointed to conduct the study.
This report is the outcome of the first stages of the committee’s work, which culminated in a public workshop organized by the committee and attended by members of industry, government, and academia. Held on March 15 and 16, 2005, in Washington, D.C., the workshop featured a variety of participants invited to present their views on issues surrounding biometric technologies and systems (see Appendix A for the workshop agenda). Five panels were organized, and each panelist gave a short presentation that addressed the theme of the panel. Each panel session was followed by extensive discussion involving all of the workshop participants and moderated by a committee member. This report is the committee’s summary of the panelists’ presentations and the ensuing discussions.
Although the summary is based on presentations and discussion at the workshop, the participants’ comments do not necessarily reflect the views of the committee, nor does the summary present findings or recommendations of the National Research Council. In fact, the committee took care in writing this report simply to summarize the discussions and to avoid any bias or appearance of
bias in favor of one opinion or another. The committee limited itself to recording the overall sense of each individual panel session and did not attempt to distill sentiments across panels. Further, this summary is not intended to be an outline of the committee’s final report; topics that were not discussed at the workshop are not mentioned, however important they might be.
In the second stage of the study, the committee will analyze the information gathered in the workshop and summarized here, along with information and input from other experts and related studies. This analysis phase will deliver a final report (planned for release in 2006) with findings and recommendations from the committee.
The Whither Biometrics Committee consists of 14 members from industry and academia who are experts in different aspects of distributed systems, computer security, biometrics (of various flavors), systems engineering, human factors, and statistics, as well as in computer science and engineering (see Appendix B for committee and staff biographies).
The committee thanks the many individuals who contributed to its work, including the project sponsors that enabled this activity. It appreciates the panelists’ willingness to address the questions posed to them and is grateful for their insights. It further wishes to recognize the energetic participation of the workshop attendees as a group. Their active engagement stimulated a more robust discussion than might have been expected. Additionally, the reviewers of the draft summary report provided insightful and constructive comments that contributed significantly to its clarity.
The committee is particularly grateful to the CSTB staff for their work. Lynette Millett, Senior Program Officer, serves as the study director and has been instrumental in guiding this project from concept to practice with grace, humor, and aplomb. Kristen Batch went well beyond the call of duty in preparing the draft report for review. Margaret Huynh has been ably coordinating logistics for meetings and providing administrative support to the committee between meetings. She and Gloria Westbrook provided excellent staff support during the workshop. Thanks also to Janet Briscoe, who provided oversight for the workshop, and to the editorial staff, Susan Maurizi and Liz Fikre, in the Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences.
Joe Pato, Chair
Whither Biometrics Committee
Acknowledgment of Reviewers
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Vijayakumar Bhagavatula, Carnegie Mellon University,
Tora K. Bikson, RAND Corporation,
Austin Hicklin, Mitretek Systems,
Wendy Kellogg, IBM,
Sara Kiesler, Carnegie Mellon University,
James Matey, Sarnoff Corporation,
K.A. Taipale, Center for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology Policy, and Andrew Viterbi, Viterbi Group, LLC.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Stephen Kent of BBN Technologies. Appointed by the National Research Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.