Is Biometrics an Age Verification Technology
John Douglas Woodward · Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) · 2000
On June 9, 2000, John D. Woodward, Jr., a RAND Senior Policy Analyst, testified before a hearing of the Commission on Online Child Protection. Congress created the Commission in October 1998 to "identify technological or other methods that will help reduce access by minors to material that is harmful to minors on the Internet." The Commission invited Woodward to discuss biometrics, or methods of automatically recognizing a person using distinguishing physical characteristics and personal traits. Examples of biometrics include digitized fingerprints, retinal and iris scans, speaker recognition and hand geometry. Addressing the Commission's interest in learning if biometrics could determine someone's age, Woodward testified that "This Commission understandably wants to protect children from accessing online sites that are harmful to minors. As part of its effort, the Commission has correctly asked whether there are any kinds of commercially- viable age verification biometrics. The good news is there are many kinds of commercially-viable biometrics. The bad news is there are no age verification biometrics, no age determination biometrics and no age estimation biometrics."