New Technique Breaks Patterns Into Numbers

Fingerprinting may intimidate crooks, but businesses don’t want to scare off law-abiding customers too. So they’re trying to put a positive spin on a procedure long used mainly on criminals.

Brochures extolling the “Thumbs-Up Identification Program” can be found at branches of First Union bank, which requires thumbprints for cashing checks presented by people without accounts.

When customers at Food Lion supermarkets object to the “Authentiprint” program, cashiers are instructed to say, “It’s for your own protection.”

Even the word “fingerprint” is taboo in some circles. The preferred terms are “finger image” or “finger minutiae.”

When MasterCard International announced last year that it was considering the use of biometrics for identifying cardholders, it took pains to explain that when customers pressed their dye-coated fingertip against a card, they shouldn’t consider that being fingerprinted.

“One of the most important factors to be aware of with finger minutiae is that we are not talking about fingerprinting,” a company news release quoted senior Vice President Joel S. Lisker as saying.

“The way finger minutiae works is that an algorithm assigns a numeric value based on the unique characteristics within the pattern of your finger that are unique to you. It’s that digitally encoded value that is verified. There is no comparison of fingerprints per se.”