Biometric Implants

An explosion of research in biometric implant technology necessitates the demand for knowledge to evaluate this fast-paced industry. "The market for biometrics products is going to almost triple by 2012 from its 2008 value," reported growth strategists Frost & Sullivan on interviewing industry expert Matia Grossi in March 2009.

Features

• Biometric microchips are embedded under the skin.

  Biometric implants are microchips encoded with personal data specifically developed for identification purposes. Embedded under the skin at accessible fleshy sites such as the triceps or between the thumb and index finger, they are based upon Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. RFID can detect the locale of a person wherever an RFID sensor is located.

Applications

• Passports are obsolete in a paperless society.

  Security is the driving force behind biometric implants. Personal, public, corporate, and homeland security applications are in trials. Direct sales marketing and retail are commercial applications. Data stored could contain credit and bank information, which would facilitate the exchange of goods and services at sensor sites.

Advocate Areas

• Biometric implants advocate a safer society.

  Common advocate areas are the prevention of identity fraud, the identification of people in disaster areas, the recognition of and therefore prevention of access to corporate buildings, and the paperless society.

Considerations

• Ethical debates regarding privacy and religious and democratic freedom are prevalent in biometric implant research. Criminal intent on hacking data from the chips is an ongoing concern. Biomedical encryption could be the solution. A breakthrough by Carmen Poon at the Chinese University of Hong Kong shows biomedical encryption can prevent hacking in medical implants.