Publicly traded biometrics companies such as Visionics Corp., Visage Technology and Imagis Technology, which sell competing facial-recognition products, saw their share prices more than double this week, even as the markets fell sharply around them.
Visionics Communications Director Frances Zelazny predicted that in the wake of the terrorist attacks, there would be a "shift in the rhetoric" surrounding biometrics.
"A lot of the things weve been talking about as a company -- as an industry -- may be heard better," he said.
Visionics, which put out a press release touting the usefulness of its products in preventing crime on Sept. 13 -- two days after the World Trade Center was destroyed by a pair of hijacked airliners -- saw its stock price rise from roughly $4.50 prior to the attacks to nearly $9.00 earlier this week. Visionics shares were trading at $8.20 when the market closed Wednesday.
Biometrics is the science of identifying people by their physical characteristics -- fingerprints, facial contours, corneal patterns, etc. Although some law enforcement agencies have trumpeted the value of biometrics in catching suspected criminals, privacy advocates have roundly criticized efforts to use biometric technology in public places.
A decision by officials in Tampa, Fla., to outfit the citys downtown area with cameras capable of constantly piping images through a computer running a biometric face-scanning program, drew national criticism earlier this year.
An aide to a longtime congressional opponent of biometric scanning in public places said that lawmakers must remain vigilant against attempts to pass biometrics-friendly laws in the wake of Tuesdays attack.
The aide, who asked to remain anonymous, conceded that it would be "more challenging" to fight off such laws in the current political climate.
David McGuire, Newsbytes
