Harmon Seaver[SMTP:hseaver@cybershamanix.com]

An article on BBC mentions how little iris scanning has actually been tested, and that China, for instance, is refusing to use it because of possible dangers, or at least, perceived dangers. Which has me wondering, could there be actual dangers from iris scanning, say a malfunctioning laser damaging the eye?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3003571.stm

Iris scanning does not use lasers. It uses a high-definition TV camera to image the iris (the colored ring around the pupil). Retinal scanning sometimes uses lasers, but does not have to. There are some HUD displays which paint an image directly on the retina with low powered lasers, but they're pretty rare. Biometrics seems to be in a bit of a lull right now. Many people noted the *absence* of many biometrics at the RSA conference this year; I myself saw nothing besides fingerprint readers. Peter Trei