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Story URL: http://management.silicon.com/government/0,39024677,39123125,00.htm

silicon.com gets a UK biometric ID card
Reporter makes it back alive – now read how it's done…

By Andy McCue

Published: Thursday 12 August 2004

After disappearing down an underground maze of passages at the UK Passport Service (UKPS) headquarters and being taken into a bright white room, I come around feeling slightly dazed and notice a bump in my neck that feels like an electronic chip…

OK, that's what many people would like us to believe registering for a biometric ID card is like, but - whatever your personal views on the pros and cons of the controversial scheme - the truth couldn't be further from that fiction.

This is what I experienced...

It's a sunny summer afternoon and I'm sitting in the bustling main passport application waiting room in London. I'm here to enrol as one of the 10,000 volunteers in the UK government's biometric ID card trial and check out the process for myself.

A small side room off the main waiting room contains a large booth with a curtain around it. Inside a chair sits in front of a desk with one machine that scans the iris and takes a facial biometric, and another machine that takes a fingerprint scan. For good measure there is a screen to sign an electronic signature on.

In reality when the government does introduce ID cards it will contain only one, or possibly two at most, biometrics. The aim of the trial is to test the enrolment process for each of the different biometrics to see how easy they are and also test them for accuracy.

I'm ushered into the booth and take a seat in front of the camera, which sits at face height. First up is the facial biometric. I simply sit still for a few seconds while various unique facial measurements are scanned and recorded.

Then I position my eyes so they are looking into the iris scanner. A computer voice prompt tells you to move closer or further away until you are in the right position and after some whirring and a couple of camera clicks, the iris scan is done.

The UKPS operator taking my scans says there have been none of the problems highlighted earlier this year by MPs from the Home Affairs Select Committee who claimed long eyelashes, watery eyes and eye complaints could render iris scanning useless for large numbers of the population.

She said the guides on the iris scanning machine and the computer voice prompt will ensure peoples' eyes are aligned correctly with the reader. And speaking as someone with long eyelashes I certainly didn't have any problems on the day.

Next up is the fingerprint scanner. It looks much like a scaled-down version of a regular computer scanner with a glass screen. First you put your four left fingers on the screen, then the thumb, and repeat the process for the right hand.

The system enables the operator to check all the prints scanned are of a good enough quality to be used. Ones that aren't are highlighted and are simply taken again. Because all the fingers and thumbs are scanned it also isn't an issue for people with the odd digit missing.

Interestingly, the Home Office spokesman accompanying me through the trial says that a database of one million fingerprint scans has been imported from abroad for use during the trial to ensure that there is a big enough volume to check how accurate the matching process is with the 10,000 prints taken during the trial.

After giving an electronic signature, volunteers will then be given a few minutes to fill out a questionnaire asking them about how they comfortable they felt using each of the biometrics and how intrusive they thought each was.

Less than 15 minutes after starting the biometric trial, the UKPS operator hands me my very own biometric ID card. It's only a demonstration one and can't be used anywhere but the chip on it does contain my biometrics. Volunteers then get to choose one of the biometrics so it can be tested against the card.

I opt for the iris scan. The card is put into a reader and I sit in front of the iris scanner again. A problem with the server connection means it doesn't register first time but a few seconds later I get a correct match. The process has been smooth and painless and taken quarter of an hour with all three biometrics. The UKPS is currently getting through about four people an hour.

The Home Office is still cagey on how the trials are progressing. Testing started in April in London, followed by Glasgow, Leicester and Newcastle. A mobile unit has been to Peterborough, Sheffield, Middlesbrough, Macclesfield, and Birmingham, and is going on to Swansea, Taunton, Torquay and Belfast.

Just over half the 10,000 volunteers needed have taken part so far and the Home Office anticipates the trials will run into September. I am also assured that all the data collected during the trials will be completely destroyed at the end of it all.

No stats are yet available on the failure and success rates of the different biometrics but a full government report is due out later in the year after the trials finish.

The trials are a valuable insight into how a biometric ID card will work but there are still many hurdles ahead for the government. Not only is the Cabinet seemingly split on whether ID cards are a huge waste of money but there also remains a strong groundswell of opposition from civil liberties groups. Still, Home Secretary David Blunkett is determined to push the bill through Parliament and it looks more likely to a case of how and when rather than if.

Got any questions about biometrics in any form - whether for ID cards, passports or additional security in the physical or digital world? Then put them to our panel of experts.