Document security is an increasingly important element in the multi-faceted discipline of document processing, and authentication of individual identity will play an increasingly important future role in relation to questions of document ownership, identity and confidentiality. Biometrics-based techniques are emerging as key elements in the drive to address security and confidentiality in an effective way, yet past experience suggests that there are many practical issues yet to be resolved if biometric technologies are to fulfill their potential in the document processing field. This paper addresses some aspects of biometric processing which are becoming increasing priorities, and suggests how a greater engagement of the document processing community can help to bring about refinements to existing approaches to biometric identity checking.
Michael C. Fairhurst