Biometrics Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Biometrics - Term Paper Example 3). The biometric facial recognition process The process of facial recognition occurs in five steps. The first step involves capturing the image. The image can either be a scan of a previously captured image or a photograph that has been captured live by the use of a digital video camera. Videos are also possible sources of facial images. The second step involves searching for the location of the face within the image. This process involves using the mouth and two eyes positioned in the shape of an oval. In the third stage, the face is removed from the rest of the image. To do this, various optional methods are available. When the face has been extracted it is now known as a template whose characteristic data is in a reduced form. The fourth stage involves the comparison of the already obtained templates with other pre-recorded faces on a database. The fifth and final stage is a declaration of matches based on the strength of the scores generated from the comparison (Woodward et al. 8) Security of biometric facial recognition Despite the many benefits associated with the use of this technology there are also some risks pertaining to its use. Like any other technology requiring the use of the internet for data transmission, privacy is a major concern. The social media sites are the major areas where privacy of the images generated through this technology may be used inappropriately leading to violation of user’s privacy rights. The biometric data may also reach the wrong people leading to problems such as identity theft or online stalking (Iowa State University 1). Application of biometric facial recognition Access control Facial recognition has been used to deny access to unauthorized persons to restricted locations or systems. It can be used to control entry into computer systems in place of a user password whereby the computers are provided with an inbuilt camera with the capability to identify faces. The technology has been used to control access to r estricted documents as well as authorization to carry out certain transactions. A good example is the use of face verification in cheque-cashing kiosks. Automatic Teller Machines are also fitted with cameras for the purpose of authentication. Financial institutions such as banks also use this technology for the purpose of access control (Senior and Bolle 108). Identification In combination with human identification and demographics, face recognition has found application in enrollment of applicants whereby it has been used to prevent double or multiple enrolment by use of different identities. It is also used in the process of issuing licenses and other legal documents to avoid the problem of people having multiple identities. Surveillance Video surveillance footages of certain occurrences such as crime have been used as sources of the images which can be analyzed through face recognition to identify individuals involved. Live images of face recognition surveillance have been used t o identify interesting persons within a group (Senior and Bolle 109). Pervasive computing The passive nature of face recogniti