Identity theft fears prompt biometric thumbs up

Britons are more relaxed about undergoing fingerprint or iris scans to verify their identity than their European neighbours, a survey of public attitudes has claimed. As many as 75% of UK citizens would be willing to submit to biometric checks when dealing with banks or the government, according to the study by Unisys, the technology company. Mounting concern about ID theft is, it appears, smoothing the way for popular acceptance of the technology. The survey suggests that civil liberty concerns about the security of public databases and the way they accumulate information on individuals are not widely shared. According to the survey, 75% of UK residents would be willing to allow banks, government agencies and other organisations to take their fingerprints to verify their identity. In France, 59% were willing to comply with a similar request. For Germany the figure was 62% and in Italy it was 63%. Meanwhile, the security of computers has slipped down the list of national concerns. Only 35% of UK residents said they were extremely or very concerned with the security of online transactions, by viruses or by unsolicited email. What most concerns...............

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