Leader: Fear not the biometric ID

silicon.com this week took part in the UK government's biometric ID enrolment trial at the passport offices in London.

The government is aiming to put 10,000 volunteers through a mock enrolment process that will test various biometrics including facial recognition, iris scans and fingerprint scans.

The results of the trials will help decide which form of physical identification should be used for a national biometric ID card-cum-passport.

Much has been said and written about the supposedly 'intrusive' scanning methods causing problems for people with epilepsy, people with fingers missing, people with watery eyes and people of different ethnic backgrounds.

What the biometric enrolment process shows, however, is that the technology works very well. Iris scans don't trigger epilepsy (epileptic associations have confirmed this). The problems with watery eyes or long eyelashes are solved with a quick and minor repositioning of the subject. Missing fingers aren't a problem and to date the trials haven't thrown up any issues around ethnicity.

In fact it's painless. It takes 15 minutes and is probably more comfortable than sitting in some awkward public photo booth on a windy train platform trying to get the seat at the right height and then waiting for ages for the usual horror-show passport photos to emerge.

The question of where biometric data will be collected for real is still far from decided. Passport offices are the obvious location but the questionnaire that volunteers (such as silicon.com) filled out at the trial asked how comfortable people would be going to locations such as post offices, banks and police stations.

This will be key to giving the general public confidence in the process. Giving fingerprints at police stations, for example, might not be to everyone's taste. And banks, while perhaps more comfortable for the public, might balk at that suggestion given the potential costs involved.

There are obviously huge issues around the benefits and expense of a nationwide biometric ID card scheme and around how the data might be used. But let's not get into a debate about the biometrics themselves. The biometric enrolment process is painless and not at all intrusive - and the technology works.

If you've any doubts yourself, why not try it out? The government is still looking for more volunteers, so anyone interested should call MORI, which is running the project, on 0161 601 8088 or visit its website.