Technology.am (may 11, 2009) — The EU researchers have successfully tested technology to verify ¬identities for security checks, so distinctive brain patterns could become the latest subject of biometric scanning.

The US government’s secretive Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity is seeking development proposals to enhance such technologies. Researchers are eager to produce ‘non-contact’ biometric systems that can check any individual’s identity at a distance.

Among security experts there is a preference for developing biometric security devices that do not rely on measuring solely one physiological trait: offering choice makes scanning appear less intrusive and allows for double-checking.

The Foreign Office plans to spend up to £15m on fixed and mobile security devices that use methods including “Facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, iris recognition and vein imaging palm recognition”.

The Home Office has also confirmed rapid expansion plans of automated facial recognition gates, and 10 will be operating at major UK airports by August.

Passengers holding the latest generation of passports traveling through Manchester and Stansted are already being checked by facial-recognition cameras.

Another series of tests fitted a “sensing seat” to a truck to record each driver’s characteristic seated posture in an attempt to spot whether commercial vehicles had been hijacked.

Biometric identity checks are also becoming more common in the world of commercial gadgets. New versions of computer laptops and mobile phones are entering the market with built-in fingerprint scanners to prevent other people running up large bills and misusing pilfered hi-tech equipment.