Consumer Behaviour and Neuromarketing (Assignment – 2)

“A Review on Biometrics”

A report submitted towards the partial fulfilment of the course of Masters of Fashion Management

Submitted by:

Abhishek PP (MFM/19/960)

Aheli Sen (MFM/19/304)

Pawan Thakur (MFM/19/873)

Under the guidance of:

Dr. Goutam Saha

(Professor of Fashion Management Studies)

Submitted to:

Department of Fashion Management Studies

National Institute of Fashion Technology
(Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India)
NIFT Campus, IDCO Plot No-24,
Bhubaneswar, Odisha-751024.
www.nift.ac.in
Biometrics

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 CONTENT
S.No Title Page no
1 Introduction & history 5

2 Types of biometrics 7

3 Reliability of biometrics 9

4 Applications of biometrics 10

5 Application of biometrics in 14
marketing context
6 Privacy risks of using biometrics in 17
marketing context
7 How secure biometrics is? 19

8 Pros & cons of biometrics 23

9 Recent advancement in biometrics 25

10 How fashion industry use biometrics 29

in marketing context
11 Conclusion 31

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Abstract
Neuromarketing uses brain research to gain a better understanding of consumer
behavior. It can provide insight into processes that we are unconsciously aware
of. That further lead our curiosity towards how to the implementation of
neuromarketing tool can provide fortunes to marketers and in the marketing
context.
Before getting to the usage of the neuromarketing tool, let me narrate a brief
history in marketing. Marketing was invented along with the advent of money.
Before the digital era, shop owners already displayed their products as appealing
as possible to increase sales. In the 80’s TV and radio, commercials appeared.
Later, researchers started conducting marketing research and developed
important theories and models. During the ’90s, the first interest in the brain for
marketing purposes arose. Ten years later, neuromarketing was born. The first
research on how the consumer’s brain works were presented. The term was
officially coined in 2002 by Professor Ale Smidts of Rotterdam University,
Netherlands.
There are many tools that are being widely used in neuromarketing. The most
prominent ones are eye-tracking pupillometry, eye tracking gaze, fMRI,
Electroencephalogram (EEG), Biometrics, Facial coding, and many more.
In this review paper, we’ll be in detail discussing about Biometrics.

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1. Introduction & History
Biometrics, the term is derived from the Greek words “bio” (life) and “metrics”
(to measure). Biometrics are biological measurements — behavioral or physical
characteristics — that can be used to identify individuals digitally and to grant
access to their systems, devices, or data. Fingerprint mapping, facial recognition,
and retina scans are all forms of biometric technology, but these are just the most
recognized options. Researchers claim the shape of an ear, the way someone sits
and walks, unique body odors, the veins in one’s hands, and even facial contours
are unique identifiers. The reason is physical characteristics are relatively fixed
and individualized — even in the case of twins — they are being used to replace
or at least strengthen password systems for computers, phones, and restricted
access rooms and buildings. Examples of biometric identifiers are fingerprints,
facial patterns, voice, or typing modulation. Each of these identifiers is considered
unique to the individual, and they may be used in combination to ensure greater
accuracy of identification.
“Biometrics is the most relevant means of identifying and authenticating
individuals in a reliable and fast way through the use of unique biological
characteristics.”

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While the earliest accounts of biometrics can be dated as far back as 500BC in the
Babylonian empire, the first record of a biometric identification system was in the
1800s, Paris, France. Alphonse Bertillon developed a method of specific body
measurements for the classification and comparison of criminals, known as
bertillonage. It is a form of anthropometry, a system by which measurements of
the body are taken for classification and comparison purposes. This required
numerous and precise measurements of the bony parts of a human’s anatomy for
identification. While this system was far from perfect, it got the ball rolling on
using unique biological characteristics to authenticate identity.
The firsthand geometry recognition systems became commercially available in the
early 1970s.
• The French police in Paris started to initiate the same process in 1888
with its Forensic Identification Unit (mug shot and anthropometry). Four
prints were instituted in 1894 and ten prints were added in 1904.
• In the U.K., the Metropolitan Police started the use of biometrics in
1901.
• In the U.S., The New York police in 1902 and by the FBI in 1924.

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2. Types of Biometrics

There are 2 types of Biometrics:

1. Physiological: Can be further divided into Morphology and Biological.
This mainly consist of shape of the face, fingerprints, the shape of the hand
(finger, vein pattern) and the eye (iris and retina) for morphological analyses. For
biological analyses, DNA, blood, saliva, or urine may be used by medical teams
and police forensics.
Physiological is sub-divided into:
1) Face: This is the most common type of authentication. For example, the
facial recognition technology on Apple's iPhone X projects 30,000 infrared
dots onto a user's face to authenticate the user by pattern matching. The
chance of mistaken identity is one in a million, according to Apple.
2) Finger print: Fingerprint scanners have become global in recent years due
to their widespread utilization of smartphones. Any device such as phone
screen, computer mouse or touchpad, or a door panel which can be
touched, has the potential to become a fingerprint scanner. This is the most
common type of biometric authentication, used by 57 % of companies.

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 3) Hand: This identifies users by the shape of their hands, palm veins and
remains the preferred technology for high-security applications.
4) Iris: Iris scanning biometrics measure the unique patterns in the colored
circle of your eye to verify and authenticate your identity. It is the process
of using visible and near-infrared light that will illuminate the complex
blood vessels in a person’s eye, making them more visible than the
surrounding tissue. Just like fingerprints, no two persons will ever have the
same retinal pattern.
5) DNA: As DNA itself is remarkably unique for each single person, it is a useful
biometric, and is used most often in forensics and healthcare and are also
used primarily in law enforcement to identify suspects.
2. Behavioral: This consists of voice recognition, signature dynamics (speed of
movement of pen, gesture trails, accelerations, pressure exerted, inclination),
keystroke dynamics, the way we use objects, gait, the sound of steps, gestures,
etc.
This is further sub-divided into:
1) Keystroke: Every individual has a different typing style. (Example: The speed
at which they type, the length of time it takes to go from one letter to
another, the degree of pressure on the keyboard, gesture trails, spell check
etc.)
2) Signature: It can be operated in 2 ways;
Static: In this mode, users write their signature on paper, digitize it through
an optical scanner or a camera, and the biometric system recognizes the
signature by analyzing its shape.
Dynamic: In this mode, users write their signature in a digitizing tablet,
which acquires the signature in real time by means of stylus or finger.
(Used by Amazon.com during the product delivery)
3) Voice: Voice-based digital assistants and telephone-based service portals are
already using voice recognition to identify users and authenticate customers.
According to Spiceworks, 2 percent of companies use voice recognition for
authentication within the enterprise. Adobe released survey data in July
2019 and found that 48% of consumers are using voice for “general web
searches.’

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3. Reliability of Biometrics
Authentication credentials such as fingerprint scans or voice recordings can leak
from devices, from company servers or from the software that is used to analyze
them. A facial recognition system might not recognize a user wearing makeup or
glasses, or one who is sick or tired. Voices also vary, people sound different when
they first wake up, when they try to use their phone in a crowded public setting or
when they're angry or impatient. Recognition systems can be fooled with masks,
photos and voice recordings, with copies of fingerprints, or tricked by trusted
family members or housemates when the legitimate user is asleep.
Solution?
Continuous improvement in the biometrics sector will be key to ensuring optimal
security and reliability – and recently there has been some biometrics
advancements. The vein biometrics is set to boom in the coming years and the
growth is currently being led by the banking, financial services and insurance
industries. It is predicted that the market for vein recognition biometrics is
expected to generate $1bn by 2029.
(For example, Hitachi recently developed a new finger vein recognition technology,
using the vein patterns in fingers as an authenticator. With a simple hand gesture
to a laptop webcam or a mobile phone camera, the technology enables fast and
secure user identification without the requirement of additional hardware. In
addition, finger veins are non-replicable and cannot be lost or stolen.)

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4. Applications of Biometrics
1) Law enforcement and public security (criminal/suspect identification):
Biometrics in this application can include criminal ID solutions such as
Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS). They store, search and
retrieve, fingerprint images, and subject records. Automated Biometric
Identification Systems (ABIS) which can create and store biometric
information that matches templates for face, finger, and iris. Live face
recognition for public security - the ability to perform face identification in a
crowd in real-time or post-event in cities, airports, at borders, stadiums or
places of worship. This application is used in many countries.

2) Military (enemy/ally identification/ contact tracing and containment of

COVID-19 among army personnel):
Much is unknown about how defense agencies around the world use
biometric data. The U.S military has been collecting faces, irises,
fingerprints, and DNA data in a biometric identification system since
January 2009. This biometric program started in 2004 and initially collected
fingerprints. The Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency (DFBA) is
managing the system, also known as the DoD Automated Biometric
Information System.
According to OneZero (6 Nov 2019), the 7.4 million identities in the
database are coming from military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In
the first half of 2019, biometric identification has been used thousands of
times to identify non-U.S. citizens on the battlefield.

Contact tracing and biometric data have helped reduce the COVID-19
infection rate in U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys, which is reporting a total
infection rate of less than 1%. As of March 8, U.S. Army Garrison
Humphreys Commander Col. Michael F. Tremblay put together a task force
team of eight people to implement COVID-19 prevention and response
measures. - Contact tracing begin as soon as an individual is tested positive.
Not only the person is interviewed on movement history, but also on the
information to be checked for accuracy with surveillance footage and

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 Defense Biometric Identification System data. If the contaminated person
interacts with others, then they are also monitored and even quarantined
to contain the spread.
Intelligent Fingerprinting Ltd, a biometrics firm in England deployed a
portable fingerprint-reading technology could be used to diagnose
COVID-19 in 10 minutes. This collect and read chemicals in finger sweat.

3) Border, travel, and migration control (traveler/migrant/passenger

identification):
The second generation of e-passport, also known as biometric passports,
includes two fingerprints stored and a passport photo. The photo speeds up
border crossing through the use of scanners. The authentication is done by
comparing the face or fingerprints of the person; seen/read at the border
with the face/fingerprints in the passport. If both biometric data match,
authentication is confirmed.

4) Civil identification (citizen/resident/voter identification):

India’s Aadhaar project. It is by far the world's largest biometric
identification system and the foundation of reliable identification and
authentication in India.
Aadhaar number is a 12-digit unique identity number issued to all Indian
residents. This number is based on their biographic and biometric data (a
photograph, 10 fingerprints, 2 iris scans).
1,257,523,661 people have an Aadhaar number as of 08 May 2020, covering
more than 99% of the Indian adult population.

5) Healthcare and subsidies (patient/beneficiary/healthcare professional

identification/employee safety/ reduce patient fraud/language barrier
assistance)
According to the top market researchers, the global biometric system
market size is expected be USD 65.3 billion by 2024.

How healthcare is using biometrics?

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 Increased patience and employee safety:
Certain areas are restricted to both the patients and employees, and are
only accessible for privileged health personnel. How this works?
Biometrics will access only to those users with the particular permissions.
Therefore, sensitive information/equipment is only available to specific
individuals. Wind blowing the chances of malpractices.

Patient fraud:
Biometric authentication could shape the industry by eliminating any
possibilities of individuals attempting to pose as other patients for access to
treatments and medication. Therefore, the right individuals will receive the
proper care and treatment.

Language barrier assistance:

There are many reasons as to problems with delivery of healthcare, and one
such issue are language barriers. For instance, if a patient cannot
communicate their illness/symptoms, the healthcare worker could access
their medical history through a biometrics scan. This scan would then grant
access to the patient’s records and showcase all known issues, helping to
correctly identify the problem and care for the patient.

6) Physical and logical access (owner/user/employee/contractor/partner

identification)
Biometric access control systems help to prevent unauthorized individuals
from accessing facilities (physical access control) or computer systems and
networks (logical access control). Unlike codes, static passwords, patterns,
OTPs, or access cards that rely on data that can be forgotten or lost,
biometric authentication is based on who people are (and not what they
have).

In the mobile world, smartphones now usually include fingerprint and facial
recognition features. The iPhone 5 was first to introduce fingerprint
recognition in 2013 (with TOUCH ID), and facial recognition became trendy
with the iPhone X introduced in November 2017 (with FACE ID).
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 According to Counterpoint, more than 1B smartphones with fingerprint
sensors were shipped in 2018, and those 1B smartphones will come with
face unlock solution in 2020.

7) Commercial applications (consumer/customer identification):

Biometrics are used in retail and customer-oriented settings for point-of-
sales services such as payments, access control in systems for purposes such
as shoplifting prevention, and characteristic analysis for personalization or
customer insights. These systems are increasingly being used for commercial
applications. (Example: Hotel check-ins). The parameters used are palm
vein, fingerprint, iris recognition, facial recognition.

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5. Application of Biometrics on
Marketing Context
In the modern digital world, human attention towards conventional
marketing is shrinking, making marketing more difficult.

Biometric marketing is the science of tracking and analyzing user's biometric

attributes and how the data can be used to improve user experience,
conversion rate and other marketing. The primary objective in marketing is
to identify customer characteristics and deliver personalized user
experience. Biometrics are increasingly shaping our relationship with digital
technology. What was once a high-security measure for the likes of
government is now becoming common and a regular part of our everyday
life. As the technology continues to trickle down to the consumer, the
potential for biometric applications is emerging.

Application of biometrics offer personalization for an individual like never

before. Information on shopping, banking, search patterns, purchase
behavior and even behavioral & physiological characteristics could, today,
be stored under one data pool, meaning the marketing possibilities are
almost endless.
With that in mind, Let’s see the effectiveness of biometrics in the marketing
context:

I. Eye tracking: With eye tracking technology, the businesses get to see
their website through the eyes of their audience. This allows them to
measure its visual impact and make improvements where necessary.

That being said, when a potential customer visits your website, where
do they look? Which areas catch their visual attention and which
elements do they ignore? Eye tracking technology measures optical
movement and visual attention to give us the answers to these

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 questions. Ultimately, this gives you the chance to identify key areas
of interest on your website, as well as areas with room for
improvement.
How it’s done?
• Heatmaps showing attention distribution
• Fixation & gaze points
• Areas of interest (AOI)
• Time spent
• Fixation sequences

II. Facial expression analysis: This technology recognizes emotions. Data

generated by this can reveal what a user is feeling when navigating a
website. This could be joy, engagement, frustration, disgust or any
other emotions that can be interpreted. By monitoring this we can
see whether a user is having a positive experience or a negative
experience and identify why they might be having such an experience,
when combining this data some of the other measurements to see
what they are looking at or trying to do at the time and optimize the
website/user experience.

III. Hyper personalized advertising: One such example of creating hyper-

personalized advertising is the use of biometrics in gyms and other
leisure facilities. The gym could use their biometric data to analyze
individuals accessing the gym, what time they do so, how long they
stay and even what classes they attend. With this information, it’s
then possible to market particular classes at those individuals, based
on their preferences.
For instance, if an individual regularly enters the gym at midday and
takes a spinning class, it’s highly likely that they may be interested in a
brand-new cardio activity taking place around 1pm. Similarly, if that
individual is a regular gym user, it’s highly likely that they will be
receptive to other sports facilities and even sporting events. The
technology can also be used to help manage gym memberships, with
prompts for members whose membership is close to renewal.

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IV. Taking the Customer’s Pulse: Lets review this down by taking in the
examples for the tech giants.
Google focus on facial recognition; trying to read our expressions to
judge how we are interacting with the content we’re consuming. This
may sound terrifying as it does interesting, but if we put aside the
question of whether people will want to share this information with
marketers, the potential for getting detailed feedback is huge.
Apple watch and Fit Bit (activity trackers) will help track your daily
activity in different ways. Imagine how useful it would be as an
advertiser to track the heart rate of someone watching one of their
ads.
(Example: apps like MyFitnessPal could, when you are on a low-calorie
diet, coordinate with your fitness tracking application and then feed
that information to advertisers so they can only show your health
options for food or activities).

V. Galvanic skin response (GSR): Galvanic skin response measures sweat

levels across skin to highlight the intensity of a reaction or response.
GSR gives an idea of when a user is getting stressed or exhibits
emotional arousal when using a website. When pairing this with eye
tracking, we can identify where and when a user is feeling this.

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6. Privacy risks of using
biometrics in marketing
context
What are the most prominent concerns you hear about the ethics of these
techniques?
The neuroscience research on its own isn’t the problem here, but companies
do need to consider the particular context whenever they start making
inferences about their customers. Because regardless of the research method
used (neuroscience, data mining based on purchase history, surveys),
consumers may perceive a violation of their right to privacy—particularly
when it seems that a company somehow knows more about them and what
they want to buy than they know themselves.
Consumers tend to be most concerned about their privacy. As customers, we
typically accept that our purchase behavior is public—at least in the sense
that it’s known to the company we’re buying from—but we think of our
brains and our thoughts as private. Consumers sometimes see companies that
use these methods as breaking an implicit promise not to invade their private
thoughts and feelings.
“There’s knowing what’s in my brain, and then there’s using that knowledge
to make me act differently—to buy more stuff.”
A lot of the concern about neuro marketing is based on a perceived
exaggeration of its power versus that of other kinds of marketing. All
marketing is about influencing people—of course you want to induce them to
buy your product instead of another product. But when neuroscience enters
the picture, people worry that they’re not just influenced, they’re forced to
do certain things. And though the influence of these techniques will grow as
they improve, forcing people to do things is just not on the horizon.

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Take an example from the world of politics: In 2015 one of the main political
parties in Mexico used biometrics to learn more about voters’ interests, which
was seen by the Mexican citizenry as a government agency trying to read
their minds. The leader eventually had to promise that his party would revert
to more “old-fashioned” methods.
Here’s another example of forced buying: Neuro research has shown that
women are more drawn to purchasing “sexy” clothing and status symbols
such as cars and diamonds at specific points in their menstrual cycles. A
company could apply this finding to target women with ads when they are
most susceptible to temptation to buy the advertised product.

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7. How secure biometrics is?
First, most consumers don’t have their brains scanned or give hormone
samples to researchers. What neuromarketers know about the thoughts of
consumers is based on what we can extrapolate from the small number of
people we do test in a research setting. A prediction about what all the other
consumers are thinking in a given situation is just an educated guess—we
don’t have access to their hormone levels, brain activation patterns, and so
on. Thus, there is no potential for a direct privacy violation for the average
consumer: Your thoughts are your own.
Furthermore, in well-directed studies, the few people who are subjects give
their overt, informed consent and agree that the data gathered in the study
can be used in specific ways. With such protection in place, this kind of data
gathering is really no different ethically from participating in a focus group,
because the participants are choosing to participate and are informed about
any potential risks and about how their data may be used.
“Brain scans in a controlled environment aren’t the “real world.”
A big disadvantage of fMRI is that it doesn’t give you “live” images.
Consumers might behave differently in the real world, unlike in a controlled
environment. Researchers might end up with a response bias—subjects are
aware that they’re being analyzed, which may affect their behavior.
Also, inside the lab, many variables are controlled; in the real world, we can’t
control those same variables—or the resulting behavior. Lab-derived
conclusions may not hold up elsewhere, especially when experiments rely on
small sample sizes.
Where risk & privacy questions arise?
Given here a hypothetical example with research based on drinking bottles.
People with a high BMI prefer a thin-shaped bottle, even if this drink is higher
in price. This would imply that soda manufacturers could sell more when
offering their drinks in thin-shaped bottles. Is this ethically acceptable? You
are not forcing anyone to buy your product. However, you are influencing

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people –who already have an unhealthy BMI– in the direction of consuming
even more unhealthy products. This is an example of where some ethical
questions may arise. How far should you go with influencing vulnerable
people in an unhealthy direction? What if your influence is bad for the
environment? Or if you make people unhappy?
At the same time, this information could be used to support healthy
behavior. By offering healthy drinks in thinly shaped bottles, you could
increase the sale to people with an unhealthy BMI. Again, it’s not what
neuromarketing tells us, but what people do with this information.
Explaining further with two Ethical and Unethical cases:
UNETHICAL CASES.
1. Political campaigns:
There’s a big chance neuromarketing is used to shape the campaigns of
politicians. Like products, politicians will present themselves in the most
favorable way to get votes. During the US election of 2004, one study looked
at brain activity and political judgment. More recent research focuses on the
appearance of political candidates. If people look at a losing candidate, they
show more activity in the insula (a specific brain area associated with pain).
The researchers concluded that negative attributions play a critical role in the
elections. Furthermore, considerable neuroimaging work is done on the
perception of human faces. Researchers investigated facial symmetry, skin
color and attractiveness related to brain activity. Even though this research
might seem innocent now, it could have a major impact on the future. What
if important, corrupt politicians know what kind of picture will lead to the
most votes? Or how to shape a speech that will prime voters so strong they
will win the election no matter what? This is an example of a case where
neuromarketing might lead to unethical consequences.
2. Obese people
Research shows that people with a high BMI are prone to be more vulnerable
to visual aspects of a product. Because they make impulsive decisions, labels
or text will influence them more effectively. Due to the existence of fast
food, sugars and processed food, the group of overweight is growing.
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According to the World Health Organization, 39% of the adults worldwide are
obese. This means a huge amount of people is easily being influenced in the
supermarket. A 2011 study shows that brains from obese people respond
differently to nutrition labels. When given an identical milkshake, they show
more brain activity in reward areas if the label reads ‘regular’ compared to
‘low-fat’. This evidence shows that consumers will behave differently
depending on the label or design of a product. Will obese people also
respond differently to color? An image, or touch? If marketers gain insight
into these findings, they might design and offer their unhealthy products in
such a way, that the vulnerable obese group will be more likely persuaded to
buy them.
ETHICAL CASES.
1. Anti –smoking messages
If you have travelled the world, you may have noticed the difference in
messages on cigarette or tobacco packaging. Here in the Netherlands, we see
shocking images of physical damage caused by smoking. In Australia, a
personal story about a man named Bryan is described. Bryan died six weeks
after starting smoking. Indonesia’s messages are almost comical: a smoking
man with a careless attitude and some skulls on the background is shown.
Although there are big differences, the goal of these messages is the same.
They need to inform smokers of the effect of smoking and support quitting.
The fact that there is so much variety in communication shows that we do
not agree on which message is the most effective.
Give step-by-step information to change behaviour
Despite the variety, there is a large group of countries that use scary images
and see a positive effect on changing behaviour. This effect is especially
present whenever the fear that the images create is taken away. Cialdini
describes that this happens because people often deny they will encounter
the dangers of smoking. However, when you give them step-by-step
information on how to change their bad habit, they face their fear and take
action.

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Revealing important information
Knowing this, neuromarketing could add important insights about the brain
to improve campaigns even more. Neuroscience has already been active in
anti-smoking campaigns. In 2011, a study by Berkman and colleagues looked
at brain scans to predict what message would most likely get people to call a
quit-smoking line. They concluded that when looking at brain activity, they
could make better predictions about the effects of anti-smoke messages
compared to traditional surveys. This shows that people often give answers
to surveys that are not completely ‘true’ or reliable. Neuromarketing can
reveal this important information and complement existing marketing tools.
This can help in restricting unhealthy behaviour like smoking.
2. Charity donations
Another ethical practice of neuromarketing is to use it for charities. We often
see charity advertisements on television showing ill and starving children in
Africa that should persuade us to donate. However, does this make us
donate (more)? A recent study by Schlosser & Levy (2016) shows that we are
more willing to donate whenever we view ourselves as being better off than
someone else. This phenomenon is called downward comparison and is most
effective whenever a charity highlights the benefits of the donations for
others. This means that an advertisement that shows happy children who
are—due to the donation—able to go to school will be more effective in
raising donations. When looking at the brain, neuroscientists found that the
striatum is activated while donating and experiencing feelings of reward. This
means that donating or being kind to others results in more happiness for
the donator too. A win-win situation if you ask us!

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8. Pros & Cons of Biometrics
I. Pros of biometrics:
1. Biometrics is extremely hard to fake. A biometric property such as a
fingerprint or an eye scanner is unique by definition for each individual.
2. It also provides an increase of convenience. Following all the best practices,
makes the passwords strong but at the same time makes it complex.
Changing it frequently for security reasons can cause some inconvenience
in terms of remembering and creating a new complex password every time.
3. Biometrics are stable and enduring, which means it changes very little over
the course of one’s life and can identify a person in spite of little variation
over time.
4. Biometrics provides strong authentication and accountability, which
someone cannot later renounce or reprobate having taken an action.
5. Using dynamic or behavioral biometric measure, advantage of two-factor
authentication can be taken
6. Easiness of use is another major advantage over password-based
authentication. People in general find fingerprint, retina and voice scanning
an easy option for authentication that too with minimal training (if
required).
7. The biometric servers usually require very less database memory, as the
templates use small storage.
8. Other advantages include safety as biometrics are non-transferable like
passwords and less time consuming. Average identification time for an
identity is 5 seconds. Also, the biometric attribute of an individual can only
be lost in case of major mishaps.

II. Cons of biometrics:

1. One of the major challenges is the process by which the biometric is
captured and mapped to an identity. Lack of accuracy in capturing, partial
capture of data and binding can lead to failure of the system.
2. Privacy is one of the biggest concerns of the biometric solution. If the
servers storing biometric information is hacked, it could have extremely
serious consequences for individuals. An example of the breach is the U.S.
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 Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which was hacked resulting in the
theft of 5.6 million fingerprints. The biometrics were stolen along with a lot
of data of each person.
3. Error in biometric devices i.e. false reject and false accept. This is usually
due to the particular biometric technology being unable to read the
characteristics of a given person for various reasons. The false accept is a
scenario in which the device accepts an unauthorized person, and the false
reject is the scenario in which the device falsely rejects an authorized
person.
4. Another major drawback is the high cost which is involved in getting the
systems up and running and also storing and maintaining the biometrics.
5. Integration into the security program is another issue which is relatively
complex when compared to the deployment of password-based solutions.
6. User acceptance is a significant challenge, especially if individuals are
uncomfortable with the idea of biometrics and see the technology as
privacy invasive.
7. Apart from these, there are various other challenges like one cannot
change the retina or facial scan (which is very specific to the type of
solution in place) in case one thinks that his security has been compromised
at any point. Also, it is not in favor for a physically challenged person.

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9. Recent Advancements in
the Biometrics
1. Biometric and AI-based Security Systems - With the growing
predominance of biometrics in security and surveillance applications
around the globe and advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) along with
machine learning, AI-powered biometrics has begun crystallizing in 2019.
The US Govt. already started making utilization of AI cameras & biometric
systems for border control security to track those who are crossing
boundaries without legal documents. Let’s see how AI & biometrics change
the face of fintech, automotive, law enforcement, education, & healthcare
sectors across the globe in the upcoming year.

There are two categories of biometric identification and recognition

solutions: Physical and behavioral.

a) Physical biometric solutions use distinctive and measurable

characteristics of particular parts of the human body, such as a
person’s face, iris, DNA, vein, fingerprints, etc., and transform this
information into a code understandable by the AI system.
b) Behavioral biometric solutions operate in a similar way, except they
use unique behavioral characteristics, such as a person’s typing
rhythm, way of interaction with devices, gait, voice, etc. This
encoded biometric information is stored in a database and digitally
sampled during authentication and verification.

Crossmatch claims to be a “risk-based composite authentication and

biometric identity management” company. In 2014, it merged with
DigitalPersona, another biometric company, to launch its key biometric
solution platform for enterprises called Digital Persona Composite
Authentication. The platform offers the “broadest set of authentication
factors,” including fingerprint scanning, face and voice recognition, and

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 behavioral biometrics, such as keystroke, swipe and mouse action tracking,
the company said. In November 2017, Crossmatch announced its
partnership with BehavioSec , a Sweden-based behavioral biometrics
company, which powers the behavioral biometric analyses functions of
DigitalPersona.

In September 2017, Crossmatch partnered with Oxford Computer Group, a

Microsoft Gold Partner that offers identity and security solutions. This
announcement claims that the DigitalPersona software will be offered to
Oxford’s Microsoft customer base. Apart from the enterprise platform, the
company also seems to offer a wide range of biometric solutions, most
notably, fingerprint scanning and detecting solutions across various
business sectors, including finance, government, law enforcement, retail,
etc.

2. Facial Recognition - The mobile developers have come up with the

integration of de-duplicators and 1:1 or 1:N matcher in smartphones this
year, taking mobile security to the new level. There has been a rise in the
implementation of facial recognition in smartphones an alternative to
unlocking the device instead of fingerprint/PINs.

Apple’s 3D scanning and Face ID technique in smartphones is the best

instance. Owners of the iPhone X have already been introduced to facial
recognition technology. However, the Face ID biometric solution developed
by Apple was heavily criticized in China in late 2017 because of its inability
to differentiate between individual Chinese faces.

Facebook announced the launch of its DeepFace program, which can

determine whether two photographed faces belong to the same person,
with an accuracy rate of 97.25%. When taking the same test, humans
answer correctly in 97.53% of cases, or just 0.28% better than the Facebook
program.

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 Google went one better with FaceNet. On the widely used Labeled Faces in
the Wild (LFW) dataset, FaceNet achieved a new record accuracy of 99.63%
(0.9963 ± 0.0009).
At the end of May 2018, the US Homeland Security Science and Technology
Directorate published the results of sponsored tests at the Maryland Test
Facility (MdTF) done in March. These real-life tests measured the
performance of 12 face recognition systems in a corridor measuring 2 m by
2.5 m.

3. Behavioral Biometrics and Beyond - The behavioral biometrics recognize

or identifies an individual based on his/her behavior which comprises
voice, signature, emotions, keystroke, posture, etc. The behavioral
biometrics holds great potential in the future if being implemented at
airports for catching offenders or violators with suspicious behavior.
Moreover, behavioral CRM will assist in enhancing the customer
experience by knowing if he/she is frustrated, angry, etc. with
products/services and improve it.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was a

major force behind the initial growth of behavioral biometrics.

DARPA’s pioneering Active Authentication (AA) Program, launched in 2012,

sought to enhance security across the US military by complementing
traditional authentication methods like passwords with behavioral
biometrics approaches. The two phases of DARPA’s AA roll-out led to
findings and refinements that have been critical to the widespread—and
still growing—adoption of behavioral biometrics technologies.

4. Ultrasonic Finger Print Sensor - The new revolutionary ultrasonic

fingerprint scanners are gaining a lot of popularity since the beginning of
the year. This avant-grade technology utilizes the ultrasonic sound
pressure waves to map the 3D ridges and valleys of an individual’s
fingerprint to achieve greater biometric identification speed & precision.

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 The novel in-display fingerprint detection feature in modern smartphones
utilizes the cutting-edge ultrasonic fingerprint sensors to provide ultimate
speed and convenience to users. The technology is built into Samsung’s
flagship Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus.
In December 2018, Qualcomm announced its 3D ultrasonic in-display
fingerprint sensor. This technology is enabled in devices using the
company’s Snapdragon 855 platform as an option if the manufacturer
wants to include the extra hardware.

5. WATSON by IBM - Watson by IBM is an AI platform for businesses that

aims to provide unique insights into their data which is analyzed under
data protection. The platform reacts to user’s tone, emotion, and
encompasses computer leaning and chat bot formulation. Watson was
created in 2014 and is based in New York’s Silicon Alley.

IBM’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform, Watson, worked together with

designer Gaurav Gupta to create an AI sari gown.

The dress, modelled by celebrity Archie Panjabi, uses white fabric with
integrated lighting that covers the entire dress. The lighting uses AI
technology to make the colors and patterns made by the lighting change
depending on the mood of the person who is interacting with the wearer
of the gown. This uses Watson’s tone and emotion gaging software which
mixes with Gupta’s dress structure that brings to mind modern
architecture. The dress was the first of its kind in India.

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10. How fashion industry use
biometrics in marketing
context
• FASHION SOLUTIONS STORE by IBM
IBM has also partnered with Italian luxury brands like Armani and Prada to
mesh luxury fashion retail with cutting-edge marketing technology. On the
outskirts of Milan, I.B.M. is working on a way to mesh retail and technology
that, if successful, will produce a new market for its technology and place
biometrics — automated ways of recognizing humans based on physical or
behavioral traits — in the forefront of retail marketing.
The I.B.M. solution, at this point, involves tracking biometrics through a mini
camera in a mannequin’s eye or placed somewhere in a store.
“We started with fashion because it is a creative and innovative industry, but
it’s clear that people have to be educated so they know their privacy will not be
compromised,” said Enrico Bozzi, the manager of I.B.M. Forum Milano, the
department that developed the technology. “It is a question of changing
people’s perception.”
At the pilot in a Milan fashion store, for example, the client noticed that
almost all Asian customers enter the store through one particular door, even
though five are available.
“We thought it was a mistake, but we checked it out and it was right and it
continues to happen,” Mr. Bozzi said. “We don’t know why yet but, in the
meantime, the store is considering positioning products by that door that are
known to appeal particularly to Asian shoppers.”
Once shoppers can be tracked, the next step could be advertisements selected
to match biometric triggers: A customer walks into a shop and a piped-in voice

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asks if the jacket she bought last time has been satisfactory and would she like
to see something similar from a new line.
In a variation that might be appealing to cash-strapped designers, viewers can
watch a virtual fashion show, and then drag and drop clothing and accessories
onto models to style their own shows. The experience can be supplemented
with material like designers’ biographical data and lookbooks of previous
collections. And all the information can be forwarded wirelessly to a mobile
phone or computer, with an iPad application likely to debut soon.

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11. Conclusion
Given in this discussion, developing an accurate and targeted marketing
strategy for consumers is the use of biometric technology. To unambiguously
associate a particular consumer with his/her profile, irrespective of the
number of individuals that share the same computing devices or login
credentials. This is promising, since due to security concerns and more
affordable cost levels, computer systems equipped with biometric devices,
such as a mouse equipped with a fingerprint scanner, will become more
common in the near future.
Harnessing the power of biometric technology in online marketing applications
will help marketers narrow the gap between what a consumer wants and what
their companies determine their consumers need. Improved marketing
strategies translate into further satisfied consumers and more effective and
responsive companies. While certain privacy issues associated with storing and
extracting an individual's biometric characteristics must be overcome, as trust
evolves with biometrics, the use of the technology will follow a path similar to
that of online transactions in recent years. The result of this application of
biometric technology. Biometric Marketing has the capability of becoming the
most common approach for marketers to target consumers with
advertisements that produce the greatest benefits for both their companies
and their consumers.

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