Ethical and Social Consequences of Biometric Technologies: Implementation in Engineering Curriculum
Rigoberto Chinchilla · 2020
Biometrics can be defined as all the authentication techniques relying on measurable physiological and individual human characteristics that can be verified using computers.This paper outlines fundamental biometric technical concepts, biometrics drivers, security expectations and current technical problems.The paper"s main objective is to discuss the potential social and legal consequences of biometric massive implementations in society.What may be the consequences when the security of our biometrics is compromised?How will populations with disabilities be enrolled in biometric databases when they lack the physical traits the biometric system requires?Are minorities disadvantaged in biometric applications?The intellectual significances of this paper are: (a) to discuss social and ethical consequences of biometric technologies, and (b) to increase public awareness of potential violations of privacy, security, civil and human rights that may have not been fully addressed yet by lawmakers.The findings of this paper have been successfully incorporated in courses related with engineering ethics and technology ethics at a senior level and graduate level.This paper explains how ethical concepts can be incorporated in different courses either by using case of studies or by treating the ethical courses as a separate seminar within different courses including proposed number of hours.A brief assessment of the teaching experiences is also presented. Biometrics FundamentalsHuman beings have unique physical and behavioral attributes that can be used for authentication purposes.Authentication is a process that leads us to have a high degree of certainty or probability about the identity of an individual.Biometrics can be defined as all the authentication techniques that rely on measurable physiological or behavioral human characteristics that can be verified using computers.Authentication can be done by comparing the biometric information an individual gives to the computer against a binary record previously stored in the computer called template.If the computer makes a comparison against one and only one template in order to match the physical or behavioral characteristics of an individual, the authentication process is called verification.In the verification process, the individual is the one who claims a specific identity.Verification applications are typically aimed to allow individuals the right to access a facility or to use a resource.If the computer makes a comparison against all its templates in order to find if the individual belongs to the template"s database, the authentication process is called identification.In the identification process, there is no previous claim about an individual"s identity.Identification applications are typically used by forensics, crime investigation and security applications.A biometric can be broadly classified as behavioral (i.e.Signature, Gait, Lip motion) or physiological (i.e.Fingerprints, Iris, Face, Hand geometry, Retina).In order to build a biometric application, the first step is to enroll the potential users of the application in a database.Page 25.583.2