The modes for measuring life are numerous: fingerprinting, hand scans, iris scans, retina scans, voice and face recognition. Less robust technologies are also being developed on gait, keystroke patterns, and odor. But the principle is essentially the same: the identification of unique bodily characteristics via the algorithmic techniques of pattern matching. How robust any of these technologies are, depend, naturally enough, on the ecology of usage. For instance, retina scanning in which the eye is pressed against a laser light scanner in order to verify against the patterning of the blood vessels at the back of the eye is highly efficient (few false matches and false non-matches). It is also fast: the template for a retina match can be 10 times smaller than that for an iris match. Yet retina scans require bodily contact with a machine, and this contact aspect often creates end user problems—seen by many as unhygienic. Thus the body must be captured, coded, and scanned but not touched.

Currently, the preferred systems for trialing are those in which the user is aware they are being scanned but have no physical contact with the machine. Also preferred are systems that avoid the rather obvious associations of biometrics to criminality, such as fingerprints. It seems strange that there isn’t more concern being expressed about how quickly we are being compelled to patch our bodies into multiple networks of regulation (and expansion), given the rather transparent connections between the structures and operations of criminality and biometrics. Indeed, in the public sphere, biometrics systems have been initially trialed on those exceptional cases with the fewest rights, such as “known criminals” in Florida and asylum seekers in Britain.

It can be inferred from the passage that the author would agree with which of the following statements?

A) For the majority of Americans, lack of cleanliness is more concerning than being scanned.
B) Biometrics systems are often linked with those who break the law.
C) Public perception of biometrics is an important factor in its utilization.



Select the sentence in the passage in which the author expresses skepticism about a term.