Biometrics & Privacy
The discrete fields of privacy and biometrics each have a rich history and an
exciting, robust, present day status. Both disciplines are dynamic and
multimodal. The current state of each is ever-changing and accelerating, and
presents both promise and questions regarding its impact on individuals and
societies. Much has been written on each topic, covering a breadth of issues
and depth of details. Every day, new stories appear of new applications and new
theories of both privacy and biometrics.
In an effort to complement and support the vibrant growth of both fields, the
NSTC Subcommittee on Biometrics and Identity Management has developed the paper, “Privacy &
Biometrics: Building a Conceptual Foundation,” which seeks to connect privacy
and biometrics at a structural level so that both fields can be understood
within a common framework. This paper is specifically not intended as a
comprehensive collection of in-depth details about privacy or biometrics.
Instead, this paper provides a general overview of both privacy and biometrics
and offers a perspective through which to view the convergence of both. The
goal is to provide a context in which details and future developments can be
placed and better understood. Additional views and analysis on privacy and
biometrics can be found in the Biometrics Privacy page of the Biometrics Catalog.
Privacy &
Biometrics: Building a Conceptual Foundation (PDF - 700 KB)
The NSTC Subcommittee on Biometrics and Identity Management Privacy working group
has developed a new general guide for technology managers and developers to integrate
privacy protections into operational IT systems. This new guide, the Privacy Technology
Implementation Guide (PTIG) combines elements of privacy protection from disparate
privacy compliance requirements, as well as a administrative policies and procedures
into a single document, contextualized for managers and developers of operational systems.
The result is a new guide that provides early awareness of privacy issues and the
aspects of systems that can be managed and developed to address privacy issues and
streamline the process of complying with existing privacy protection requirements.
Privacy Technology Implementation Guide (PTIG), August 2007 (PDF – 358 KB)