Re:Togo made a digital government stimulus system in two weeks
by vsskanth on Monday November 15, 2021 @10:08AM
(#29228264)
I think in India iris scans are used in addition to fingerprint as biometric markers. Doesn't cover all cases but more robust than just relying on a finger or an eye.
Re:Togo made a digital government stimulus system in two weeks
by captn3m0 on Monday November 15, 2021 @12:20PM
(#29229804)
No, Iris scans are used in the Aadhaar ecosystem during enrollment. But for authentication usecases (such as ration disbursement) - it is almost exclusively OTP/fingerprint verification.
Iris scans can be used, but are rarely used in practice anywhere except enrollment due to the higher cost of devices, the "creepyness factor", and speed of usage.
Tangentially, and moving a bit off topic, what was surprising to me is that biometrics wasn't mentioned (but I'm sure some influential people, companies and "banks" would soon push for it). In contrast, even though India has large (on paper) programs of direct cash transfers and subsidized food supplies, they're all tied to the exclusionary irrevocable/non-changeable biometric based number (called Aadhaar). That the poorest people would be living and/working in conditions that support destruction or rapid change in biometrics has been completely lost on all bureaucrats and politicians. On paper, alternative identifications are to be legally accepted, but practically nothing moves unless biometric authentication succeeds.