UKB International dismisses fears on hand held biometric scanners

Concerns about the reliability of hand held biometric fingerprint scanners were dismissed by specialist company, UKB International, today

Commenting on the the roll-out of hand held biometric fingerprint scanners to all UK police forces by 2010 announced at Biometrics 2008 conference at Westminster last week, anti-ID campaigner NO2ID pointed to failure rates, as high as 1 in 5 for fingerprints, in the only medium-scale test of biometrics on the general population to date, carried out by the UK Passport Service in 2004.

Paul Easton, Communications Director with biometric specialist UKB International said: "Four years is a long time in biometrics. 2004 is three years before the advent of commercial sub-dermal, multi-spectral scanners capable of returning negligible 'Failure To Acquire' results. UKB International scanner technology was tested at a major US theme park chain on millions of transactions. It worked in extremes of heat and cold, scanned through dust, dirt, paint and latex gloves on a demographic from eight years old to the late nineties. Once again, NO2ID appear content to live in the past".