Privacy Watch: Technology Has Its Limits in Terrorism Fight

For obvious reasons, I have a predilection for seeking technological solutions to problems. But unfortunately, when it comes to combating terrorism, many proposed technological solutions just aren't solid enough to be entrusted with such a critical job.

Following the September 11 attacks, a lot of very smart people recommended that we use new technologies to fight terrorism on our soil. Law enforcement and government officials proposed using biometric scanning devices in transit systems. And companies large and small expressed interest in face recognition software, which could be used to identify and track suspected criminals.

Much of the ensuing debate has centered on the loss of privacy that employing these techniques might cause. But that focus ignores another important point: These technologies have fundamental flaws that terrorists could exploit relatively easily.

Biometric devices turn physical characteristics--such as fingerprints or patterns in the eye's retina--into data that computers can use to identify people. When they first appeared, biometric devices had severe accuracy problems. When set at their most sensitive level, these devices might lock you out of your workstation because of a paper cut on your thumb. When reset to a lower level of sensitivity, they might grant access to someone with a fingerprint or retinal pattern similar to yours. Biometric products work better now than they did two years ago, but they still aren't faultless and can't be relied upon when lives are at stake.

And the accuracy of the scanners isn't the only weak link in the system. Behind a hand-scanner biometric network at an airport, for instance, is a database containing the handprint data of all people authorized to enter secure areas. To get around the scanners, determined terrorists could use an insider or a hacker to plant counterfeit data in the database, associating their own handprints with the names of legitimate airport employees. The terrorists then wouldn't need fake fingerprints or high-tech contraptions to fool the biometric network--they could simply use their own hands to gain access to the airport tarmac.

Face recognition software has a similar technological vulnerability. The software takes images from security cameras and turns people's faces into sets of data that can be used for subsequent identification. But even the companies that make such software admit that the angle of the camera, the lighting--even a hat--can perplex the system and ruin its effectiveness.

Regrettably, there's no quick technological fix to the problem of terrorism. But that's a vitally important fact to know. Trusting a bad security system is worse than having no system at all.

-- Andrew Brandt

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