Big Brother is watching and making arrests
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Tom Noonan, the CEO of security software and services company ISS and the chairman of the US National Infrastructure Advisory Council, says the big effort to link-up national databases in the US following the 9/11 attacks is reaping an unexpected premium.
Tom Noonan, the CEO of security software and services company ISS and the chairman of the US National Infrastructure Advisory Council, says the big effort to link-up national databases in the US following the 9/11 attacks is reaping an unexpected premium.
"You would not believe how many criminals we have picked up. It has gone up dramatically, and it is because big brother is watching a little more closely," he says.
Noonan cites a case of a woman stopped for speeding in Pennsylvania. To avoid a fine, she used a neighbour's identity. But a quick search revealed the woman whose identity she had 'borrowed' was wanted in another state for murder. They also found the driver had also been using another neighbour's identity who was also wanted for several federal offences.
Noonan, talking to Information Age on a recent visit to London, admits that identity theft will remain a problem for some time, and that biometrics will not be ready for full commercial exploitation for many years. But eventually, he says, there will be "total saturation" of biometric identification.
At the recent Information Age Enterprise Security conference, several speakers said they expect biometric ID technology will be incorporated in many electronic devices, such as laptops. However, none of the suppliers represented said they had any immediate plans to do this.
