Biometric ID cards could save lives
Biometric ID cards could save lives
In the wake of biometric ID card set backs in Britain recently, Australian companies are forging forward with new ideas, which could save people's lives in emergencies, as well as increase security at passport control and in banking.
Despite the United Kingdom's Home Secretary David Blunkett announcement this week that the government's smart card project has been put on hold because of the failure of fingerprint and iris-recognition technology, companies in Australia are optimistic by their ongoing projects.
One of these projects plans to introduce smart cards for driving licences, due to be experimented shortly in one of the states in Australia.
It is planned that this ID card will contain a holographic picture of a driving licence holder, which can be matched to a database via a video camera. Not only will this be used to verify that the licence holder matches the person's face, but it could also hold vital information about that person's medical history in case of an emergency.
Sachlan Faval, director of ROFIN, based in Victoria, which develops biometric technology, said. "This technology will be very useful in the case of a road accident, for instance. Doctors could access the card to find out about the medical history of an injured person. They could find out from the card if that person has any conditions, such as diabetes, or a certain blood group, and this could help them operate more quickly at the scene of the accident to help save that person's life.
We want to get away from the big brother view, which many people have of being spied on, and we would prefer to educate people about the benefits for them. Secure, biometric methods could not only save lives, but also increase security for many aspects of people's lives."
Faval says that the banks do not want to release the figures about how many frauds are carried each year because they do not want to tarnish their image. He says it's something around the surplus amount the Australian government wants to use to reduce taxes.
"Biometric cards would provide much better security, so that this money would not be lost. There are many ongoing projects going in Australia which eventually will be rolled out for the benefit of consumers, companies, organisation and the government."
E-commerce is another area where biometric cards could be used for security reasons. Faval added that e-commerce businesses could use the video camera biometric technology to verify if credit card users are genuine.
Another biometric project is currently being piloted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Australia to help prevent terrorists from slipping into the country. This will be available online later this month. Subscribe here if you would like to read it when it is on the site.
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