Private Identities, Public Property?

Talk directly with speakers from a variety of disciplines about biometric technologies in society today, how they work and what their consequences might be. You can try out technologies including iris scanning, fingerprint scanning and facial recognition. After a brief introduction to each speaker, join in-depth discussion in small groups. We’ll wrap up with an audience-wide Q&A session.

Large-scale biometric technology schemes have arrived. E-passports are here. ID cards are imminent. Embedded, encrypted chips will store your personal information. What are the advantages of this? The Home Office cites increased security, identity verification and easy access to public services as potential benefits, but questions remain. Will data encryption be robust enough? Could biometric technologies ever fail? And are they a step in the direction of the database state, where our private lives are no longer our own? Would the very uniqueness of biometric information provide an irresistible opportunity for identity fraudsters? Or will it prevent identity theft?

To start you thinking, video artist Chris Oakley will explain the inspiration behind his work The Catalogue (2004) and the role of artists in stimulating public thought about technology in social contexts. Clive Reedman will demonstrate iris scanning, fingerprint scanning and facial recognition technologies with the audience. He’ll tell of his own vast experience working with specific technologies in a variety of social settings, including the police force and more recently the e-passport scheme. Gus Hosein will address biometric technology in relation to recent government developments affecting our privacy. How much privacy should we expect in modern society? Are there wider social benefits of biometric technology today? Finally we’ll hear from Phil Booth, who’ll discuss choice, control and consent in relation to biometric technology, and why proposed ID card schemes pose more problems than they are claimed to alleviate. All the experts are keen to hear your views on these ID systems – do you think they are a good idea, or not?

Event organised by:
The Science Museum

Speakers

Phil Booth, National Coordinator, NO2ID
Gus Hosein, Information Systems Group, LSE
Chris Oakley, video artist
Clive Reedman, Managing Director, Identity Solutions

Have you got what it takes to be a spy for the day? Find out at the Science Museum’s new spy skills exhibition, The Science of Spying, open from 10 February.