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BIOMETRICS HOT AT COMPUTER SHOW, BUT HOW TO USE IT?

As reported by Peter Henderson, fingerprint readers and face scanners are the hottest technology at Comdex, the largest U.S. computer show, although companies considering how to deploy security systems say a quick technology fix is not enough.

Still, security vendors say their identification systems will soon be everywhere.

A German truck maker eager to stop hijackers stealing big rigs in Eastern Europe was the latest of a string of uncommon requests fielded by Cognitec AG, a small German face recognition software company suddenly besieged by potential customers, as well as by venture capitalists.

"This is something that is going to be in the door frames in cars in a couple of years," said Bolko Graf von Haslingen, the general manager, who says interest has skyrocketed since Sept.11, when hijacked jetliners were used to destroy the World Trade Center and set part of the Pentagon ablaze.

Cognitec's system, for instance, offers $69 PC logon software that works with Web cameras and has a downloadable demo on its Web site, www.cognitec-ag.com.

But signing on to computers is not the name of the game any more, said Carter Marantette, director of federal sales for Precise Biometrics AB, a Swedish firm that develops identification software based on the curves of fingerprint ridges.

"Since Sept. 11, physical access has been much more important" than information technology customers, he said.

"Where we're going is to be able to authorize cell phones and PDAs, the mass market," he said.

Marantette predicted that prototypes of wireless phones made with authorization chips, which would allow mobile commerce, among other things, would show up in a year or so.

Policy, Not Technology

The security technology companies say they are hearing a lot less about an Orwellian future when governments would listen in on every conversation, but executives advocating new technology systems are also arguing that the most Draconian measures are not necessary.

"I have never been for a national ID card," said Larry Ellison, the chief executive of database software giant Oracle Corp, who wrote a Wall Street Journal opinion piece generally taken as a call for just that.

"What I am for is taking all our existing government IDs and having a national standard for ID cards," he said.

The problem is lack of standards and integration, so that databases are fragmented. The Social Security administration sends out cardboard cards, for example, even though credit card technology, with magnetic strips and biometric checkers, is possible.

EDS Corp, a technology services company that does one of the hardest jobs -- designing systems and making them work, announced at Comdex an airport security plan, but said the technology was not the key.

"This needs to be an integration not only of the technology, but of the parties interested," such as government and the airlines, Jim Dullum, president of the EDS global transportation industry group, said in an interview.

His plan calls for dividing airports into security sectors and controlling employee access, using ID cards with biometric authenticators, such as hand or fingerprint checks. Vehicles could be tagged to make sure the right trucks were in the right places on the tarmac.

EDS also proposed registering volunteers for ID biometric cards. Frequent travelers would sign up in order to zip through check-in, letting security forces concentrate on those left over, he said.

But for the system to function efficiently, details like getting access to law enforcement databases and designating what information could be shared among government agencies and private companies would have to be worked out.

Dullum said a system that worked could be pulled together in a matter of months, if someone made the policy decisions.

"We live and breathe technology," Dick Brown, EDS chief executive, said in an interview. But for the most part, he said, "This is a policy issue."