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The ethics of biometrics: the risk of social exclusion from the widespread use of electronic identification

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Abstract

Discussions about biotechnology tend to assume that it is something to do with genetics or manipulating biological processes in some way. However, the field of biometrics––the measurement of physical characteristics––is also biotechnology and is likely to affect the lives of more people more quickly than any other form. The possibility of social exclusion resulting from the use of biometrics data for such uses as identity cards has not yet been fully explored. Social exclusion is unethical, as it unfairly discriminates against individuals or classes of people. Social exclusion is unethical, as it unfairly discriminates against individuals or classes of people. This article looks at some of the ways in which social exclusion might arise from the use of biometric data, and introduces a model of balancing individual interests with which to analyse whether it is justified to run the risk of excluding some members of society for the benefit of others.

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Notes

  1. For more information, see http://www.kevinwarwick.com/.

  2. See for instance, the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB (http://www.trustedreviews.com/storage/review/2006/06/15/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-10-750GB-Hard-Drive/p1) [correct at 22nd November 2006].

  3. Note that the term “biometrics” refers to the field of study, and as such is referred to in the singular, and also for the characteristics themselves, which can be referred to in the plural as it is an abbreviation for “biometrics identifiers”.

  4. For more on this, see The London School of Economics’ Interim Report The Identity Project: An Assessment of the UK Identity Cards Bill & its Implications, London, March 2005 p.48ff. http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/pressAndInformationOffice/PDF/IDreport.pdf.

  5. Number based on the UK Department for Work and Pensions figures of 10 million disabled people in the UK. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/employers/dda/.

  6. As mentioned above, 0.62% of the UKPS Biometrics Enrolment Trial disabled sample group (four people) were unable to enrol any biometric data at all [5, p. 52–53].

  7. See, for example, IBM T42 Notepads.

  8. Giving evidence on the Identity Cards Bill 2004, when asked whether libraries and video rental shops might be allowed to require the ID card the then UK Home Secretary told the Home Affairs Committee, “Wherever someone is required to prove their identity and those operating that particular service have registered so they can use a [ID card] reader then that would be fine.” (House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, Minutes of Evidence, May 4, 2004). Clause 14, subsection 5 of the Identity Cards Bill 2005 enables an accreditation scheme to be set up, allowing private organisations to apply for approval to make checks of ID cards. See the Bill’s Explanatory notes, paragraph 97.

    http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmbills/009/en/06009x–.htm.

  9. “Black” is the term used in the UKPS Trial Report [5].

  10. As mentioned above at page 5, according to the UKPS Biometrics Enrolment Trial Report, facial recognition data were affected by wearing a baseball cap and some kind of helmet worn by a disabled person (possibly against the risk of injury in event of a collapse or fit). The position of hair around the face also caused failure to enrol and false non-match. The discriminatory implications for religions with rules on head coverings are clear. This situation does not seem to have been anticipated by the Home Office Race Equality Impact Assessment for the Identity Cards Bill 2005, 25th May, 2005.

  11. There is no single definition of social exclusion: see e.g. [9, pp. 1–3].

References

  1. United States General Accounting Office Technology Assessment (2002). Using Biometrics for Border Security, Washington D.C. November 2002. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03174.pdf.

  2. Machine readable travel documents: development of a logical data structure for optional capacity expansion technologies (2004). ICAO Technical report LDS 1.7-2004-05-18, 2004.http://www.icao.int/mrtd/download/documents/LDS-technical%20report%202004.pdf.

  3. The Hague Programme (2004). Presidency conclusions of the Brussels European Council, November 2004, http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/news/information_dossiers/the_hague_priorities/doc/hague_programme_en.pdf.

  4. The Hague Programme (2005). Ten priorities for the next five years––The partnership for European renewal in the field of freedom, security and justice, communication from the commission, COM(2005)184 final, May 10, 2005. http://www.cidob.es/ingles/programas/programamigracions/recursos/documentacio-comunitaria/bdd-comunitaria.cfm#.

  5. UK Passport Service (2005). Biometrics Enrolment Trial Report, May 2005. http://www.passport.gov.uk/downloads/UKPSBiometrics_Enrolment_Trial_Report.pdf.

  6. “Malaysia car thieves steal finger” BBC news online, 31st March, 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4396831.stm.

  7. ‘ID card database to support a public service delivery agenda’, Out-law.com, December 6th, 2004. http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=idcarddatabaseto1102340874&area =news.

  8. ‘New client? ID card please’ (2004). Accountancy Age, December 2nd, 2004. http:/www.accountancyage.com/news/1138822.

  9. Burchardt, T., Le Grand, J., & Piachaud, D. (2002). Introduction. In J. Hills, J. Le Grand & D. Piachaud (Eds.), Understanding social exclusion, (pp. 1–3). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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  10. Townend D. (2004). Overriding data subjects’ rights in the public interest. In D. Beyleveld, D. Townend, S. Rouillé-Mirza & J. Wright (Eds.), The data protection directive and medical research across Europe. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.

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  11. The LSE Identity Project (2005). p.104 ff. http://is.lse.ac.uk/idcard/identityreport.pdf.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Law, Sheffield Institute of Biotechnological Law and Ethics (SIBLE), University of Sheffield, 169/171, Northumberland Road, Crookesmoor, Sheffield, S10 DF, UK

    Jeremy Wickins

  2. International Centre for Advanced Research in Identification Science (ICARIS), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Jeremy Wickins

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  1. Jeremy Wickins
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Correspondence to Jeremy Wickins.

Additional information

In Spring 2003, in Cernay near Paris, a first EC-funded experimental course in newly arising ethical issues in biotechnology was hosted by prof dr. Louis-Marie Houdebine of the Laboratoire de Biologie Cellulaire et Moléculaire, INRA (Jouy-en-Josas). A second course took place in Spring 2004, in Portofino, Italy, that built on the experiences of the first one. The product of this meeting was a network of scientists involved in ethical questions pertaining to novel biotechnologies. L. Witthoefft-Nielsen and L. Landeweerd, organizers of the second course, developed an initiative to strengthen this network of young researchers by encouraging members of the group to prepare papers on their respective subjects for submission to a peer reviewed journal. These initiatives were undertaken under the auspices of of the BioTethics Consortium.

This paper is the first of two and looks at ethical issues raised by the widespread use of biometrics. This paper, initially written shortly after the research project began, introduces the topic, and states the case for considering the ethical issues. The second article will deal with results of the research.

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Wickins, J. The ethics of biometrics: the risk of social exclusion from the widespread use of electronic identification. SCI ENG ETHICS 13, 45–54 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-007-9003-z

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