Illawarra residents hold 'Big Brother' fears about new identifying techniques used at airports

18-November-2002

A University of Wollongong survey has revealed that residents in the Illawarra are concerned about their privacy when it comes to identification techniques recently introduced at international airports and other high security organisations.

Graduating honours student, Amanda Toskack, has completed an honours research project into the awareness and attitudes of Illawarra residents to techniques such as retina scanning and finger printing, that have been introduced to international airports and high security organisations as a response to September 11 and more recently, the terrorist attack in Bali.

"The medical community has proven that certain human characteristics are unique for each person," Amanda said.

"Attributes such as fingerprints, irises and retinas, signatures and keystroke patterns have been utilised by engineers to develop biometric systems for purposes such as authentication and verification. However, the optimism has not been borne out by reality."

Amanda's research also shows how attitudes have changed in the past four years, after comparing her findings to research into biometrics carried out by another former UOW student.

More than 90 local residents took part in the research through surveys or focus groups. From this the research identified and prioritised the main user acceptance barriers that the residents associate with biometric technology.

Among other things the research showed that while their awareness of biometric systems had increased significantly in the past four years, residents were still wary of some of the techniques used such as face scanning and retina scanning.

"There is a common fear that the government will make improper use of their personal information and it will be used for tracking purposes," Amanda said.

For more information or to arrange an interview/photo etc: contact Will Tibben from the School of Information and Technology and Computer Science at the University of Wollongong on 4221 3768.