I-P: WHY I LOVE BIOMETRICS BY DOROTHY E. DENNING

[Peter Fairbrother]

R. A. Hettinga quoted Dorothy Denning:

>> What makes biometrics successful is not secrecy, but rather the
>> ability to determine "liveness." ..
[..]
>> For instance, the Sensar iris-recognition system from Iridian
>> Technologies (www.iridiantech.com) looks for the "hippus
>> movement"-the constant shifting and pulse that takes place in the
>> eye.

A thin contact lens with a fake iris would have "hippus movement",
n'est-ce-pas? At least, it would "shift" like an ordinary eye. Is the
"pulse" perhaps a waxing and waning? Even then, if you were prepared to be
really gross, you could surgically stick a flexible fake iris over a real
one (under the cornea), or transplant an iris or even an eye temporarily and
connect the blood vessels etc...  Whose liveness are we determining?

Their other argument is that a contact lens wouldn't work as an imposter
because it shifts around every time you blink - so don't blink for a few
seconds, that's all the time it takes to gain access. Or move your head when
you blink so the camera looses track. Or use superglue...   Besides, large
well-fitted contact lenses hardly move at all.

I googled "hippus movement", and only got 3 hits, all (rehashed) Iridian
press, including the above-mentioned from Dorothy Denning who should know
better. 

Also, from The British Journal of Opthalmology:
"Search Criteria: Anywhere in Article: "hippus movement" In Journals: Br. J.
Ophthalmol. 
Your search retrieved zero articles." (from 1965 to 2001).

Spin? Snake oil? 

-- Peter Fairbrother





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