Face to face with the ‘human barcode’
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Julia Johnson | 12/07/25 | Last Updated: 12/07/26 10:15 AM ET
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Handout/BIOPTid Inc.BIOPTid Inc.'s cube reads unique sweat-gland patterns and can be hooked up to personal computers and electronic devices as an alternative to password logins.
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Sure, it’s cool and easy to pay for stuff with the wave of a smartphone — but why bother when you could just use your face?
Fast-evolving biometric technologies are promising to deliver the most convenient, secure connection possible between you and your bank account — using your body itself in place of all of those wallets and purses stuffed with cash, change and plastic cards.
Biometrics is the science of humans’ physiological or behaviourial characteristics and it’s being used to develop technology that recognizes and matches unique patterns in human fingerprints, faces and eyes and even sweat glands and buttock pressure. Its applications in the financial realm are a potentially huge time and effort saver, but that’s just a beginning for the technology’s usefulness.
In addition to carrying other tokens and some knowledge, like your PIN for ATMs — you are you, so why not be used to authenticate yourself?
“The basic thing is that you are the person who has to be authenticated for transactions. In addition to carrying other tokens and some knowledge, like your PIN for ATMs — you are you, so why not be used to authenticate yourself?” says IBM researcher Nalina Ratha.
As technologies advance, the use of biometrics in everyday life is shifting from traditional law enforcement and government security to a host of more consumer-friendly applications.
Touch payment technologies that employ fingerprints as an identifier are already in the works, Mr. Ratha says, and despite being hundreds of years old, fingerprinting and its uses are still developing rapidly. In fact, IBM introduced fingerprint scan pads for personal log-ins on its then-laptops (which are now produced by Lenovo Group Ltd.) back in 2004.
The next generation of fingerprinting is being developed to go beyond simple recognition to incorporate pressure sensors that can determine if a device is being touched by a live object or not, which helps with fraud detection.
“Fraud can be done if people design [fake prints] using some moulding and they can create a gummy finger and fool the biometric technology,” said Svetlana Yanushkevich, co-founder of the Biometrics Technology Lab at the University of Calgary.
A New York-based technology company says its patented sweat-gland recognition technology will help add even more security to existing biometric devices that may be susceptible to fraud.
“With most of the biometric technologies, there are ways around most of those technologies — you could lift somebody’s fingerprint and create a Latex copy, you can create a contact lens to copy somebody’s iris and so on and so forth. We think we’ll be the only technology that’s ‘spoof-proof,’ ” says Scott McNulty, president and chief executive of
BIOPTid Inc., which owns “the human barcode” technology.
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The company’s One Touch cube, set to be on the market within a year, is an external device that users can hook up to their computers and mobile electronics to replace passwords for Internet logins and banking. The cube reads a personal sweat gland barcode to verify identity from the moisture on a user’s fingertip.
“With one touch, you can log right into your social networking site, right onto your page. You can instantly purchase something without having a credit card or form of ID,” he says.
In addition to the metaphorical connotation, he trademarked his technology as “the human barcode” because the sweat-gland patterns create a numerical reading like a computerized barcode.
Vancouver-based Face Forensics Inc., a face-recognition software company, is also transitioning its products to more transactional-based uses from their traditional law enforcement and government access mandate — the company typically works with governments around the world on e-passports as well as registry systems, such a licence plate databases.
Chief executive Iain Drummond says Face Forensic’s software platform is the only one in the world that can recognize a face based on a partial image. “So, for instance, a criminal wearing a balaclava or someone whose face is obscured by something in front of them,” he says.
The move to digital tech for travel is happening in Canada too, which started unrolling e-passports this year.
Everything I say is in my opinion, do your own DD and make your decision wisely! Don't spend more then you can afford to lose!
