Biometric features and privacy : condemned, based upon your finger print
Jan-Willem Bullée, Raymond N. J. Veldhuis · 2012
What information is available in biometric features besides that needed for the biometric recognition process? What if a biometric feature contains Personally Identifiable Information? Will the whole biometric system become a threat to privacy? This paper is an attempt to quantifiy the link between biometrics and privacy. For a number of biometric-personal(ity) combinations, the availability, detectability and retrievability of Personally Identifiable Information from biometric features is calculated. This paper should make the reader more aware of the possibilities in this area and inspire further research. By the use of a meta-analysis, the possible risks of the fingerprint biometric and three personal(ity) traits are inventoried. Based on $d'$-values the retrievability of Personally Identifiable Information is determined. The results show that in all three possible biometric-personal(ity) combinations Personally Identifiable Information can be retrieved better than 50/50 guessing. This implies storing biometric data in the clear can be a threat to privacy.