The digital revolution continues to affect virtually every aspect of our lives, including personal identification. A fascinating documentary, Biometrics focuses on how modern I.D. methods have radically shifted from outmoded social identification (i.e. through family trees, group affiliations, etc.) to digital methods including DNA, advanced fingerprint and voice recognition, scanning of the iris in the eye and vein patterns in the hands, facial measurements, and behavioral biometrics. A booming industry in the age of international terrorism, biometrics is at the cutting edge of both personal and national security, with almost unlimited applications related to commerce, airports, prisons, hospitals, banks, sports arenas, etc. Providing a concise history of identification methods, beginning with the 19th-century anthropometry developed by French biometrics pioneer Alphonse Bertillon, the program looks at a number of modern biometrical marvels while acknowledging that even the most sophisticated technologies in this area—many being developed and tested in the United Arab Emirates, due to rampant terrorism in the Middle East—will never be 100% foolproof or impervious to tampering. In fact, members of the German “Chaos Computer Club” demonstrate how they can hack biometrics-related computers, while another clever hacker shows viewers how simple it is to create false fingerprints to fool a fingerprint scanner. All of which leads to a thought-provoking discussion of how easily civil liberties could be violated in a biometrics-dominated future. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (J. Shannon)
Biometrics
(2007) 52 min. DVD or VHS: $149.95. Films Media Group. PPR. Closed captioned. ISBN: 978-1-60467-395-1 (dvd), 978-1-60467-394-4 (vhs). Volume 24, Issue 2
Biometrics
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