For Adele and Michelle who know me inside out Text 2017 Maria Birmingham Illustrations 2017 Ian Turner All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of Owlkids Books Inc or in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying a license from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency Access Copyright For an Access Copyright license visit www accesscopyright ca or call toll-free to 1-800-893-5777 Owlkids Books acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts the Ontario Arts Council the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund CBF and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Book Initiative for our publishing activities Published in Canada by Owlkids Books Inc 10 Lower Spadina Avenue Toronto ON M5V 2Z2 Published in the United States by Owlkids Books Inc 1700 Fourth Street Berkeley CA 94710 Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Birmingham Maria author Biometrics your body and the science of security written by Maria Birmingham illustrated by Ian Turner ISBN 978-1-77147-193-0 hardcover 1 Biometry Juvenile literature 2 Biometric identification Juvenile literature I Title QH323 5 B585 2017 j570 1’5195 C2017-900006-3 Library of Congress Control Number 2016962529 Edited by John Crossingham Designed by Danielle Arbour an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario Manufactured in Dongguan China in March 2017 by Toppan Leefung Packaging Printing Dongguan Co Ltd Job BAYDC36 A B C D E F Publisher of Chirp chickaDEE and OWL www owlkidsbooks com Owlkids Books is a division of
CONTENTS Introduction Why Identification Fingerprints Hand Geometry Facial Recognition FYI The Downside of Biometrics Iris Recognition and Retinal Scanning Voice Recognition Vein Recognition FYI Biometrics of the Future Signature Recognition Odor Recognition FYI There’s More in Store Conclusion Index Selected Sources 4 6 8 12 16 20 22 26 30 32 34 38 42 44 46 48
INTRODUCTION It’s a Fact There’s No One Like You You are one in a million Actually if we include all the people roaming the planet you’re more like one in 7 4 billion But who’s counting There are lots of things that make you stand out from the gigantic human crowd Your ideas values and beliefs are an important part of what make you an individual Your physical features play a big role in your uniqueness too Each day you’re recognized as you because of the way you look And you recognize those who are important in your life just the same way For instance when you spot a family member getting out of a car you know that person immediately based on his or her appearance And that person knows you just by glancing your way Now think about your fingerprints No one else in the world has prints that match yours The same goes for everyone else out there Since the late 1800s scientists have used fingerprints to accurately identify people BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS
It doesn’t end with your physical appearance though You may recognize a friend from a distance based solely on the way he walks You’re familiar with the unique way he moves and know it almost instantly A person’s voice is also very distinctive If your best friend calls you on the phone chances are you’ll know it’s her as soon as you hear her voice We humans rely on our natural ability to recognize people by their many traits both physical ones and aspects of behavior Now we’ve entered a new era where computers are doing the same thing analyzing our bodies and behaviors to identify us This has turned the human body into a form of identification an ID that we never forget to carry with us Biometrics is the name for the science of using the body to identify a person The word biometrics comes from the Greek bio meaning life and metron meaning measure This technology measures unique physical traits such as our ear shape scent or vein patterns to identify us It can also ID us by analyzing how we perform a specific task such as talking or typing As you read through these pages you’ll learn about topics like faceprints voice recognition and iris scanning Yes it sounds a lot like science fiction But biometrics is really based on the age-old fact that there is no one else like you on Earth And that makes your body the ultimate ID biometrics AT A GLANCE Tablets like this throughout the book will give you a quick overview of each biometric The name of the biometric This gives you the level of difficulty involved in collecting information for the biometric This rates how secure or reliable the biometric is Method XXXXXX Type XXXXXX Collection EASY MODERATE DIFFICULT Security WEAK AVERAGE STRONG It’s a Fact XXXXXX There are two types of biometrics physiological and behavioral A physiological biometric measures a specific part of the body such as the hands or the face A behavioral biometric analyzes how a person performs a specific task such as talking This describes you guessed it a fact about the biometric BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS BIOMETRICS 5
