Identification technologies

Abstract

Peter pointed out that any biometrics-based ID system exhibits three kinds of failure: false acceptance, false rejection, and failure to enroll. False acceptance is incorrectly authenticating someone. False rejection is the failure to authenticate someone who should have been. Failure to enroll is when a person does not possess the biometrics data needed for identification. For example, people without hands cannot provide fingerprints, and many elderly people have such thin skin that their fingerprints don't register. Error rates of ID systems are not fixed but can be adjusted depending on the security desired and the cost of the various types of errors.