Written on the body: Biometrics and identity – Irma van der Ploeg

Biometrics is the next big thing in information technology. That’s why when you combine biometric and information technology comes biometric technology. Biometric technology involves the collection with a sensoring device of digital representations of physical feature unique to an individual example of this are fingerprint, retina, veins of the hand and many more. Biometrics appears not so different from older and existing forms of establishing and verifying personal identity in the deliverance of all kinds of social services and securing economic exchanges.
The legal aspect of biometrics is a distinction between determination of identity and verification of identity while identity or real identification refers to a process involving investigation into a range of personal data. The difference can be identification is a search for a one too many match with whereas verification refers to a search one to one match. Van Kralingen made a distinction between determination of identity and verification of identity. Determination of identity means it is a process involving investigation into a range of personal data while verification is to involve merely the comparison of two data in order to determine whether they belong to the same person. The difference is identification refers to a search for a one to many match while verification is a search for a one to one match. Biometrics is not just about identity check but also involves the generation and storage of digital representations of unique physical features for the purpose of identifying that person within an information system.