Brave New World of Biometrics

There are always people who can find a reason to criticize strongly any new technology as too personally invasive, but I'm all for biometrics. Among the amazing things biometrics enables us to do is to scan a person's iris—the colored part of the eye—which displays a natural pattern that is even more distinct than the fingerprint.

Imagine what that will do to cut down on credit card fraud if the pattern of a person's iris must be scanned before the credit card can be used. Imagine how foolproof it will make Internet purchases, which are now extremely vulnerable to fraudulent abuse.

Biometries' ability to prevent theft against the government also is endless. When the state of Connecticut required people to be fingerprinted in order to receive welfare benefits, 25 percent of the recipients dropped off the rolls (many of whom, we have to assume, were receiving benefits improperly).

Biometrics also will give law-enforcement officers terrific new powers to track and capture international terrorists. Imagine what miniature face scans embedded secretly in passports will do to passport fraud, and the ability of terrorists to flee from one country to the next.

Does this mean the government and corporations will have more "personal information" about you on file? Sure, to the extent that you consider your face or your iris to be personal "information." But all the hubbub about "invasion of privacy" is vastly overblown.

Ever since the invention of telemarketing and the ceaseless parade of phone calls bombarding my home day and night began, I've considered my privacy to be a thing of the past. But in the scheme of things, it is a minor inconvenience, not a major assault.

Of course, if biometrics is too much for some people, they always can cut up their credit cards, disconnect their phones and computers and move to the Rockies and live alone away from people and society. Meanwhile, I'll continue to enjoy all the benefits modern technology offers.