For more than a decade, an intense debate has raged between privacy and biometrics advocates about the risks and benefits of biometric technology. Privacy advocates view widespread consumer adoption of biometrics with skepticism and fear as the ultimate manifestation of “Big Brother”. Biometric advocates insist that the technology can and should be used for its “highest good”, to enhance and protect individual privacy by blocking government and corporate access to personal data. This long-running dispute may now be on the verge of resolution.
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Apple, the leading innovator of consumer technology, made a series of announcements on September 9, 2014 revealing that the requisite privacy and technology framework to bring this “highest good” vision of biometrics to market is now in place. Though some of the dots are not quite connected, for the first time in the evolution of the biometrics marketplace, Apple’s privacy policy and supporting technology infrastructure have positioned the company to deliver on the promise of biometrically enabled consumer privacy.