Eye in the Sky—and Everywhere Else:
Do Biometric Technologies Violate Our Rights?
POLICY FORUMThursday, January 24, 2002
11:00 a.m.
Featuring Joseph J. Atick, Visionics Corp.; Marc Rotenberg, Electronic Privacy Information Center; Dorothy E. Denning, Georgetown University; and John D. Woodward Jr., RAND.
The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Due to technical difficulties, there are no archived broadcasts for this forum. The following Cato publications were distributed at the forum and are available online:
- Briefing Paper 69: "Watching You: Systematic Federal Surveillance of Ordinary Americans" by Charlotte Twight (October 17, 2001)
- Briefing Paper 54: "Nameless in Cyberspace: Anonymity on the Internet" by Jonathan D. Wallace (December 8, 1999)
- TechKnowledge Issue #31: "Biometrics: Hold On, Chicken Little" by Lucas Mast (January 18, 2002)
Biometric technologies—including facial recognition, retinal scanners, ID cards, and implantable chips coded with personal information—have been increasingly in the news since camera use in last year’s Super Bowl, and particularly since the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
What are the benefits of and concerns about further deployment of biometric identification techniques in various areas of American life? Do they promise new levels of physical security and secure commerce by preventing others from impersonating you, or do they threaten fundamental values of privacy? What are the distinctions to be made between governmental and commercial deployment of biometric technologies, and what policy concerns arise when private companies profit from selling biometrics tools to law enforcement?