Biometric Time Clocks

Time clocks are usually associated with images of employees "punching" or swiping in and out with physically coded or RFID enabled cards. Physical systems are liable to mechanical failure and the cards themselves may be lost, damaged or simply forgotten. There is also the constant danger of fraud where one person clocks on or off for another. Biometric time clocks are an attempt to solve these problems.

What Are Biometrics?

Security professionals often distinguish between three types of identifier: something you know, something you have and something you are. The first might be a passcode, the second a punchcard. Biometrics are category three: something you are.

The most common form of biometrics in use today are fingerprints. There are also eye scanning approaches, either iris regognition or retinal scanning. Of the three systems fingerprints are the most commonly used in time systems.

It's important to remember that most of today's biometrics are not 100% foolproof for large numbers of people. For a standard workplace they don't have to be: it's enough to distinguish between one of several hundred or maybe a thousand workers and there are quality systems you can buy today that will do that. However there are issues involved when trying to scale the technology up to uniquely identitify millions of individuals on a national basis.

Time Clocks

The biometric time recording and attendance system simply takes the concepts of the old-fashioned time clock and uses biometric technology. Instead of using punched or RFID swipe cards, employees simple press their fingers on a scanner (for a fingerprint based system). The system quickly and reliably cross-checks their prints with the employee database and records the time. This avoids the need for an employee to have and carry a card, reduces the amount of mechanical acttivity that can lead to damage in a punch system and also reduces fraud.

Objections

Although biometric time systems can undoubtedly provide benefits and advantages to employers there are serious issues with regard to acceptibility amongst the work force.

Biometrics are, by their very nature, the most personal things we have. Many people feel that being forced to hand them over is a significant invasion of personal privacy. Being fingerprinted also makes many people feel that they are being treated like criminals. There are also concerns about biometrics in the workplace being a stepping stone to their wider use in society, leading to images of Big Brother and fears of a database state.

The proposed imposition of biometric national identity cards in UK has met with strong public resistance, partly for these reasons. Will people who object to being fingerprinted by the state consent to being fingerprinted at work?

I personally believe that as the Internet raises privacy awareness the controversy over the use of biometrics in society will grow.