Biometric fact and fiction

YOU'VE seen them in spy films and science-fiction movies: eye-scanners, fingerprint readers, facial-recognition systems. Such body-scanning or “biometric” systems, which can make sure that somebody really is who he claims to be, are touted as the ultimate in security technology. Systems protected by passwords are unlocked by something you know (the password), which others can find out. Systems protected by keys or their high-tech equivalents, smart cards, are unlocked by something you have (the key), which others can steal. But systems protected by biometrics can be unlocked only by a bodily characteristic (such as a fingerprint) that no one can take from you. Your body is your password.