Let’s look at important factors that affect the reliability and usability of different biometric technologies.

Privacy Intrusion

The risk of privacy intrusion must be considered when choosing a biometric system. If employees feel their personal privacy is intruded when using a biometric system, it is difficult for employer to implement the system. From time to time, we have seen cases which employee reports privacy intrusion to authority and employer have to cease the use or even remove the biometric system.

Based on market research, many users believe it is an intrusion to privacy if their personal fingerprint and iris data is being collected by the employer. It is because fingerprint and iris data is usually associated with police and criminal.

More users feel comfortable to have their facial data collected by the employer. It is because our faces are widely used for identification in our daily lives – student ID card, ID card, employee card and passport. Also, we encounter CCTV and surveillance camera on a regular basis. We associate face as a way to identify a person and we don’t feel it is an intrusion if our facial data is being collected. As a result, facial recognition system is more acceptable by users than other biometric systems.

Contactless System and Personal Hygiene

Fingerprint and hand geometry systems are “contact system” because they require user to place his finger or hand on the system scanner. Many users prefer not to use contact system because of hygiene reason. Employers also believe contact system may increase the risk of spreading of disease and impact the company productivity.

Facial and iris recognition system are “contactless system” because users don’t need to touch the system. The contactless nature reduces the chance to disease spreading and protects user’s personal hygiene.

Ability to Track Intruder

When an unauthorized person or intruder tries to use a biometric system, he may leave behind his personal biometric data. However, what can we do with an intruder biometric data? If the data is iris or hand geometry data, it is meaningless and cannot be used to identify the intruder. Even if we pass the data to the law enforcement, they may not find it useful because law enforcement doesn’t have a database of iris or hand geometry data. If the data is fingerprint data, the law enforcement may use it to compare with their fingerprint database. However, their fingerprint database may not cover everyone in the city or country. Hence, finding the identity of the intruder could be difficult.

If facial data is collected, system administrator can tell the actual facial appearance of the intruder. This helps to identify who that person is. Also, administrator can pass the intruder picture to the law enforcement and it would certain help to search and identify the intruder. Hence, a facial recognition system can effectively track intruder and his facial appearance.