IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - July 2016 - 98

IRT is increasingly being considered
and applied in banking,
e-commerce, border control,
national security, and other
security application areas.
APPLicAtioNS
Since 2007, biometric technologies, especially iris-recognition
technologies (IRTs), together with fingerprint recognition systems, have become the preferred multimodal techniques in the
security domain, especially with respect to citizen identification by government. IRT is increasingly being considered and
applied in banking, e-commerce, border control, national
security, and other security application areas.
One of the most prominent examples is in border security
and control in several countries around the world, including
the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Canada, the United States,
and the United Kingdom [26]. IRTs are used for different purposes within border security. Passengers can enjoy speedy
access, entering or leaving a state without the need to use a
passport or any other document assertion if they have been
preregistered in an iris database. Airline crew members and
airport employees can use iris recognition to gain access to
secure air-sides or to restricted areas. Arrivals can be screened
against a watch-list database, recording the irises of persons
considered dangerous, illegally returning immigrants, or of
expellees excluded from entering the country [26]. IRTs in the
UAE, for example, are used to identify each passenger. The
process takes about 2 s against a database of over 2 million
expelled foreigner records. By the beginning of 2016, the technology was able to scan up to 42 million people, with an average of 30 individuals caught every day and denied entry [20].
Another application of IRTs is within law enforcement.
The technologies have been used in Jordan, as an example,
for narcotics control to keep track of drug dealers and suspected drug traffickers. IRTs are also utilized for prison control in the United States. These technologies are used when

Figure 3. IRT in action at one of Cairo Amman Bank's ATMs.
(Courtesy of Anas Aloudat.)
98 IEEE ConsumEr ElECtronICs magazInE

JULY 2016

booking and releasing inmates to make sure that no mistakes
happen when releasing a prisoner [20], [27].
IRTs are currently used by several banks around the world
as a fast and convenient method to verify clients. In 2008, the
Cairo Amman Bank of Jordan was the first commercial bank
in the world to integrate an iris security scanning technology
into its core banking systems [28], [29]. The technology
enables the bank to register its client through a dedicated iris
imager, fitted next to the desk of each customer service officer.
The iris print is then stored into a central database, where it is
later securely retrieved, almost instantly, for recognition purposes. The client can then enjoy an easy-to-use and secured
banking experience either through an iris-reader-enabled ATM
or at a teller desk, eliminating the need to use a bankcard, a
PIN, or even a personal identity card. See Figure 3.
Another domain that found an application for IRTs is in
humanitarian relief functions. The United Nations Higher
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has begun a financial
inclusion project to deliver micropayments to Syrian refugees
living in Jordan using their irises at ATMs without the need of
bankcards or PINs, enabling cash-dispensing transactions discreetly and in limited amounts [30]. Solutions based on IRTs
are also being expanded to include other services for refugees,
such as medical care, food, and other financial subsidies as
well, like providing vans inside refugee camps fitted with irisreader-enabled ATMs inside [31].
IRTs were also trialed to create safe school zones. In New
Jersey, the technology was exploited as an entry access control system that identifies the individual seeking to enter the
school, makes a decision about whether to grant entry, and
unlocks the entrance if the person is approved. A second
application of the technology was as an identification system
for parents who wanted to pick up their children before the
end of the school day. Parents voluntarily participated to have
their irises scanned rather than signing in and showing identification to the school staff [32].
Perhaps the most notable application of iris-based technologies is in national identity programs, such as the Unique
Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) project. Tens of
millions of Indian nationals have presented their irises for
processing and registration in thousands of centers throughout India, making the project the world's largest biometric
national ID of its kind [33]. But how far can these technologies actually permeate into our personal lives before they
incur scope creep? Already, for instance, the national ID system in India, known as Aadhaar, is being extended for use as
an employee ID by the private sector, and there are even calls
now to link it to private bank accounts (Figure 4).
In the next section, we present a closer look at the social
and ethical issues raised by IRT use relating to the ownership
of individual iris data by government and business. With the
apparent benefits of IRTs that have been presented in this
article, there are commensurate concerns for their acceptable
use. There are some significant issues about the role of IRTs
that cannot be ignored, for example, the intangible adverse
impacts of these technologies on individuals beyond the

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