Digital mug shots, iris scan, and DNA reports are more extensively used by various governments these days to locate criminals and preventing crimes. Earlier the main method of identifying a criminal was strictly restricted to finger prints which are a main piece of forensic evidence. During the Afgan war the US expanded its biometric methods in preventing the crimes.
History of biometric technology dates back to 14th century, in China. Barros, who was exploring China, found that the Chinese merchants were stamping children's palm prints and footprints on paper with ink so as to differentiate between young kids. This could be the most primitive known cases of biometrics in use and is still being used today.
Fingerprints identification, is the talebearer, which the bomb makers and thieves mainly leav behind. There are millions of finger print database with many defense agencies like FBI, now they are preparing the database of facial recognition algorithms, iris match technology and DNA reports. Multi model biometric which is a combination of two models like facial recognition plus finger print are also under development which can give maximum accuracy.
There are gadgets working with biometric technology like Apple iPhone which can be unlocked with a finger print, android users can even unlock their phone with a glance. Schools, hospitals, and colleges are also using biometric technology since it can reduce the risk of password getting hacked or lost same time it can undermine the privacy as well.
Biometrics is also important for the planned ‘ePass’ for citizens of the European Union (EU). Biometric systems are unique, cannot be shared or is never lost .
