Free The Computers of Star Trek by Lois H. Gresh

we approach the twenty-first century. The United States government has established a focal point for biometric research called the Biometric Consortium. Over a hundred different high-tech companies are registered with the Consortium, each vying to develop a fool-proof method of determining a person’s identity. Spain uses biometrics to identify people qualified for unemployment and medical benefits. In the United States, the immigration system and various hospitals use biometrics. Russia plans to use biometrics in its banking systems, and France and Germany plan to use biometrics on credit cards. Several countries are even using DNA as a biometric identification technique. Many countries plan to use these systems
for everything from social security and banking systems to election and polling control. The problems of security in the future that we’ve discussed in this chapter are already a major concern today.
    The most common form of biometrics, and the one in use in secure installations throughout the world today is fingerprint recognition. The chance of two people having the same fingerprint is less than one in a billion. Biometric finger scanners merely require a person to place a finger onto a computer screen for a second. Surprisingly, the fingerprint is not analyzed by the whorls of the print (as seen in numerous police and FBI shows over the decades) but by a computerized picture of the finger comprised of tens of thousands of small dots mapping the skin. In a fairly short interval, this pattern can be compared to millions of fingerprints on file and ensure positive identification of the individual.
    Of course, such a system isn’t perfect. As suggested by more than one gruesome crime drama, fingerprint analysis doesn’t work if the finger being analyzed isn’t attached to the proper hand. Nor is there a national, much less world-wide fingerprint data bank available to determine wanted criminals. But because of its speed and low cost, biometric fingerprint identification has become commonplace in many banks and financial institutions.
    A somewhat more sophisticated system used at institutions that require more rigid security (such as nuclear power plants, government laboratories, high-tech military installations) is the Biometric Handshape Recognition scanner. The name of the device makes clear its function. Individuals working at the installation put their hand inside a scanner and multiple cameras working in conjunction with an advanced computer program map a three-dimensional image of the hand. According to the developers of this technology, the exact shapes of hands differ and confirmation of an individual’s identity is fool-proof. Of course,
the system only works when comparing the hand-print to those on file, and is relatively time consuming.
    A third method of biometric identification is popular in James Bond films, European banks, and a few top-secret installations. It is iris prints, where an infra-red light scans a person’s iris and matches the scan against a print on file. According to the Biometric Consortium, iris scans are more accurate than DNA tests. Unfortunately, most people object to having their eyes scanned by infra-red beams and this method of identification is costly and unpopular.
    Perhaps the most promising system of biometric identification is facial recognition technology. NVisage from Neurodynamics uses a combination of cameras and computers to form a three-dimensional scan of a person’s face that can be made in full light or complete darkness. This identification method is popular because of all the biometric techniques, it is the least intrusive and can be done without the person being aware of the action. In a future where computers and scanners will be built into the walls of a starship, facial recognition would be a natural method of maintaining security.
    Another promising technique presently under development is bodynets—identification of the