Biometrics

Privacy
A major concern with the implimentation of biometrics is a concern for privacy. There are several aspects of privacy that may be affected. First, there is privacy of an actual person. Obtaining biometric information is not simply data about a person but very unique information of a person. It is information that can only be referenced to only that particular individual. Obtaining this data can often be viewed as intrusive, with participants often unaware data is being captured. Certain types, such as faces, fingerprints, or voices can be easily taken without knowledge.

Another imortant aspect is the storage and use of the information once it is obtained. Biometrics involves personal and valuable data that many individuals do not want to compromised in any way. Once the information is out there, people want to continue to have control over it, keeping available to certain people and protecting it from unauthorized use. Individuals want to be aware of privacy protection and trustworthy of the database's security. This information should not be accessible to any third party without consent.

Accuracy
There are several instances in which information collected may not be reliable or usable. There are various reasons for these errors. Problems could occur in the acquisition of the information. This could involve inadequate instruments used to obtain information, environmental states during which the data is obtained, unavailable features, inconistent measures of a feature, or the person for whom the data obtained is asociated with is not correct. These implications can result in inaccurate results.

Certain things can be done to reduce risks of inaccuracy, such as obtaining several samples to store. Most biometric systems include countermeasures. These help to protect against common fraudulent attempts, such as an artificial fingerprint.

All biometric systems have a tolerance range that allows for inaccuracies. This produces both false negatives, in which the correct person is denied, and false positives, in which the wrong person is verified. The tolerance level of a particular system influences the number of false positives and negatives. If a system has low tolerance it will most likely produce more false negatives,; whereas a system with a more relaxed tolerance will produce more false positives.