Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Session 12

Brief Overview/Summary
The twelfth TWC lesson was very similar to the previous lesson, on Group Project Presentations. This week, we saw the presentations from five groups.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

Group 1: Mind-controlled Prosthetics
My group started the last lesson with the discussion of mind-controlled prosthetics. We talked about the history of prosthetics, its recent advancement and the future possibilities of the advancement of prosthetics.

When one thinks of mind-controlled prosthetics, they would think that it is a very far-fetched idea that is possible in the future, but it isn’t present today. However, contrary to popular belief, mind-controlled prosthetics is actually very common today. Further research is still ongoing to improve this new technology.

Although the cost of mind-controlled prosthetics is very expensive today, going up to at least US$8 million, there are actually cheaper alternatives. As mentioned by Sam during the presentation, a 17 year-old boy from the University of Pennsylvania actually created a mind-controlled arm in his room using his 3D printer. This shows that mind-controlled prosthetics can actually be more affordable. This brings us to the argument of knowledge patents and licensing. Due to the greed and profit-making mentalities from most MNCs, they tend to put patents on their knowledge and products, preventing anyone else from entering the market so that they can earn high profits from their rare or unique products.

Through the group project, I have actually made close friends who I enjoy spending my Friday mornings with. This group assignment has helped me understand more about the advancement of prosthetics, and its impacts on the world.

Group 2: Trans humanism
The second group’s topic on transhumanism is very much similar to what my group and I have presented. It discusses the use of artificial body parts to rival the biological ones. However, it talks about more parts of the body other than limbs, such as the replacement of biological eyes with bionic eyes, and the implantation of brain pacemakers.

The group also addressed the various advantages, disadvantages and implications that such forms of technology have on people and society.

Group 3: Food for the Future
The group first started out their presentation with a very short but exciting skit. It portrayed the vast difference between the high tech biotechnology ‘farmers’ and the traditional agricultural farmers that we have today.

It is clear that high tech biotechnological farmers today are robbing the jobs and livelihood of traditional farmers with their high yield and productivity rates. However, it must be recognized that although the poor are disadvantaged, high tech farming is necessary to resolve poverty and hunger issues in the world today.

There are also many food preservation applications today such as canning and refrigeration, which helps people store food longer, preventing wastage if they do not want to consume it at that.

Other than the role of farming and packaging, people can also do their own part to help alleviate the seriousness of world hunger today. Simple gestures such as not wasting food and donating food to the poor regularly can have significant benefits in the long run.

The group also talked about the future of biotech farming, agricultural farming, food preservation, which can have a greater impact to alleviate world hunger today.

Group 4: Sexual Advertisements
The forth group presented on the use of the female body to advertise products or to send a message to the public. However, more often then not, these women become the center of attention of these advertisements, and people are no longer interested in the main aim of the ad.

The main aim of this presentation talks about the use of technology in such advertisements, and how it has led to both positive and negative impacts around today.

Group 5: Virtual Reality
The fifth group started their presentation with a very hilarious video of an example of augmented reality. Their presentation was very in-dept. on the current uses and future of augmented reality.
I am very excited and am looking forward to the increase use of augmented reality in daily life as it can make life simpler and more helped people be more connected.

Key Takeaways
1)   There is much possible advancement to technology in the future.
2)   Different types of technology have different impacts on society.

Final TWC Reflections
This entire TWC journey has definitely been a fruitful one. I remember on Week 1 when we were just waiting outside the Seminar Room for Prof, and it was also my first class in SMU. Prof started off the class by explaining to us the meaning of ‘technology’, and moved on to discuss about Guns, Germs and Steel, explaining how Yali’s question on the uneven development in the world today is the main crux and key to the discussions of the entire course.

At the end of this 13-week journey, I have to say that I’ve definitely picked up many new skills and knowledge, from getting to know about the history of technology, to its possible future advancements, impacts on society. It has been an enjoyable journey, but as they say, “All good things come to an end”.

TWC has taught me valuable skills such as a hunger to learn, and also tons of general knowledge that is beneficial to me in the long run in the working world.  

Personal Ratings

I rate this class 8/10.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Individual Paper

Use of Biometrics in Transportation[1]

1st Year Student, Bachelor of Business Management, Singapore Management University

Executive Summary
The advancement and use of technology in our fast-paced and increasingly overcrowded world plays a major role in helping us alleviate the psychological and social impacts created by this myriad.

This paper examines the development and the increased use of biometrics in society, particularly in the area of fingerprint technology in all forms of transportation today, which includes air, rail, road and water. The paper examines the advantages, disadvantages and conceivability of this service in the future and how it is able to provide technological sustainability for future generations.

1. Introduction
As countries become industrialized and developed, they tend to become more fast-paced. Countries are considered to be fast-paced when being on time for appointments and being quick to get down to business, these considerations become a social norm. Technology has helped people keep up with their schedule with the advancement of different forms of communication, more advanced transportation and on-the-go time planning.

Transportation refers to the transfer and repositioning of people, animals and objects from one place to another. There are many modes of transportation today, which include road, air, sea, rail, cable and pipeline. Passenger transportation may be public or private. As the world becomes more fast-paced, the importance and reliance that people have on transportation subsequently increases. The peoples’ choice on modes of transportation must be able to relocate them and send their deliveries from one place to another punctually. The advancement of transportation in the recent years has greatly benefitted people by helping them reach places and transport deliveries on time.

However, the advancement of transportation could sometimes also be detrimental instead of beneficial to people. With the continuous increase in human population, the demand for private transportation and users of public transportation has increased over the years. This has brought about major environmental and social issues around the world. Other than global warming, this also caused an increase in demand for resources needed to build and operate private and public transports. This includes paper needed from trees for airplane, ship, or train tickets, metals needed to make car keys, bus tokens and the different transport vehicles.

The term “biometrics” is derived from the Greek words “bio” (life) and “metrics” (to measure). With that, biometrics is the study and application of analyzing biological data (Smith, 2006). Biometrics may also be referred to as technologies that measure and analyze human body characteristics, such as DNA, fingerprints, eye retinas and irises for authentication purposes (Rouse, 2008).

This paper examines the combination of the use of biometrics in different modes of transportation. Till this day, fingerprint biometrics has been involved in some modes of transportation, such as private, air and sea. This paper will first discuss the evolution of biometrics and transportation overtime. It next examines the current situation that we are in now, with some examples of the uses of biometrics in our everyday lives, the current technology used in transportation, and both of its impacts on society. It also addresses pressing and pertinent issues that we face today, particularly in the areas of biometrics and transportation. The main crux of this paper will then go on to explain and evaluate the greater use of biometrics in transportation. It will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the combination of these ideas, and demonstrate a cost-benefit evaluation to determine if such measures can be adopted in the near future. Finally, this paper will predict and synthesize the impacts of the increased use of biometrics in transportation today.

The limitations of this paper include the lack of statistical evidence and response for the increased use of biometrics in transportation. This is due to the fact that such methods have never been adopted before, and it is difficult to predict a certain and definite impact that such methods have on society. Also, this paper is unable to address the same concept for all the countries around the world. This is because different countries around the world with different levels of development have differing interests and views for the increased use of fingerprint technology in the much-used private and public transportation today. Nevertheless, the author has, to the best of her ability and knowledge; provide a fair and impartial analysis, evaluation and understanding throughout the paper, especially in the section on future considerations.

2. Historical Perspectives

2.1 History of transportation
Humans’ first means of transportation was walking and swimming. The domestication of animals for transportation occurred from 4000 to 3000 BC (Lambert, 2013). This allowed people to transfer the burden of loads and long travelling durations to these animals. Horses, camels and donkeys were the first few most significant animals that allowed for the greatest advancements of civilization through migration and trade (McGrath, n.d). In 3500BC, the first wheel on carts was invented (Bellis, n.d.) and in 3100BC, water transports such as the first sailing vessels were created in Egypt. By 2700BC, the Egyptians were using wooden ships for trade and barter by sea.

The Roman Empire took pride of and was well known for the network of roads they have built. These roads were built for the main purposes of allowing the army to move from one empire to another easily and for messages and orders to be sent quickly. The Romans also built large merchant ships called cortia, which was able to transport 10,000 tons of cargo at an instance (Lambert, n.d.).

After the fall of Rome, transportation became primitive again. During the Tudor period, roads were merely dirt tracks, as horses were the main mode of transportation, one would be lucky to be able to travel 50-60 kilometers per day.

During the late Tudor times, coaches began to develop as an approach to road maintenance. The most common design is the berlin coach, which was designed in 1660. There is a door on each side with blinds above it, and the coach can sit four people facing each other in pairs. In 1680, the blinds were replaced with glass windows to keep out weather. In the late 17th century, the gigs were invented. A gig is a light, two-wheeled sprung cart pulled by a human or a horse. European capitals often hail sedan chairs and are carried elegantly by humans (Gascoigne, 2001). In the 18th century, goods were often transported by packhorse. It was only in 1759, when Francis Egerton, the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, built the Bridgewater Canal to transport coal from his mines to the industrial areas of Manchester. The Bridgewater Canal was a role model for future bridges to be built, and played a major role in the industrial revolution by making the transportation of goods cheaper.

During the early 19th century, transportation of humans and goods were very expensive, particularly in the US. It took four days to go from New York to Boston, and the cost of shipping a ton within the United States was the same as shipping goods of the same weight to England. Later in the 19th century, water transport and railways revolutionized transport. By 1820, the use of steamboats was also increasingly common in the United States and in England. With the advancement of sea transportation, lifeboats became increasingly common. The first major railway was from Liverpool to Manchester, which opened in 1830. By the 1860s, there were also many railroads and some 31,000 miles of track laid in the United States. The first underground railway of the world was built in London in 1863 where steam locomotives pulled the carriages (Mabry, n.d.). In 1885, Karl Benz invented the first car (Bellis, n.d.). From 1890-1900, the first underground trains began running. The London Metropolitan Railway and Paris Metro opened within that period. In the 1880s, the first cars and bicycles were made. It was quickly developed with the invention of the electric car heater, which also replaced the steam in sail with steam turbines. The 19th century also saw the first manned flight by the Wright brothers. They created the first successful airplane in Orville on 17th December 1903. It flew 120 feet above ground for 12 seconds at 6.8 mph.

The 20th century saw a huge leap in the use of cars around the world. As such, many improvements were made to road transportation such as automatic wipers, three-point seat belts for cars, and the invention of electric traffic lights, the first breathalyzer, the first ‘double yellow lines’ and parking meters for road safety and regulations. This is to ensure greater safety and regulation on the road in response to the increase of road users. Motorbuses and trolley buses were also replaced by the re-introduction of light railways. Foreign holidays only became common in 1960. The Boeing 747, a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport aircraft was introduced in 1970. Following that, the Airbus A380 was introduced in 2005 as a double-deck commercial jet airliner.

2.2 History of biometrics
Since the beginning of civilization, humans have been using facial features for recognition and identification. Due to the heightening need for formal recognition and increasing populations, people started using anthropometric data for identification. Anthropometric data refers to the study and record of the human body and its gestures (Ryan, 2001-2011).

By the late 1800s, a mechanism, which involved the use of fingerprint indexing, was created. It was able to retrieve previous records, and became a viable method of recognition and identification. Later, in India, Edward Henry invented the Henry Classification System. It uses numbers and alphabets to stratify fingerprint patterns by treating the ten fingers as different units. This recognition method was largely used in English-speaking countries then. It was not until the late twentieth century where biometric systems began to emerge alongside the emergence of information systems.

3. Current Situation

3.1 Current use of transportation
Transportation is divided into two types – private and public. Private transport is not available to the general public. Examples of motorized private transport such as cars, motorcycles, vans, lorries and private jets.

As opposed to private transport, public transport is to provide people a high quality service at a low cost. However, public transport also faces various social issues such as safety, road and human congestion and mobility.
The various modes of transportation are air, rail, road and water, and these different forms of transportation have different forms of entry and varying security levels.

3.1.1 Air
The different types of air transport consist of airplanes, helicopters, parachuting, and airbuses. Some are private, while others are for commercial use. Namely, the aviation industry consists of passengers, the crew, and a very flight schedule. Passengers usually wish to be transported between large miles and distant destinations based on their desired time and date. The flight crew operates the aircraft and provides service to the passengers. The flight schedule then refers to the airport schedule, crew schedule and the passengers’ schedule. The flight schedule is important to meet the demands of the passengers (Barnhart & Laporte, 2007). The airport is also considered to be one of the busiest places in the world, working round the clock. One of the busiest airports in the America is the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), which hosted a large number of 95,462,867 passengers in 2012 (Ewalt, 2013).

In the past, passengers of commercial air travel have to present many handling documents to get through airport security, such as boarding passes and passports. Although these procedures help maintain high security levels, these processes take up a lot of the passengers’ time, requiring them to reach the airport a few hours before departure. However, in the years following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, many airports around the world have heightened security measures, and these measures have also helped passengers save time and paperwork. Many airports today are turning to the area of biometric scanning, which helps identify people according to their physical characteristics. Biometric scanning is a more accurate method of identification as compared to hard copy passports.

Heathrow Airport, London, also conducted a test for their new scheme – Passenger Authentication Scanning System (PASS) that uses infrared facial recognition biometrics to capture the passenger’s data. It does not require a physical boarding pass and instead, they simply have to pass through a ‘self-boarding’ gate through an electronic barrier, which takes an infrared scan of their face, which is crosschecked and confirmed with their data. This eliminates the time that passengers today usually waste when their facial features are checked by airport security staff, and this is also environmentally friendly, because people no longer have to print numerous papers for hard copy identity verification (Whitehead, 2013).

3.1.2 Rail
A railway can be divided into two portions. Its first portion refers to the parts with are not fixed such as locomotives, passenger carrying coaches, and the freight carrying vehicles. On the other hand, the parts that are stationary refer to its infrastructure such as the tracks and stations.

The rail has become more advanced and has shifted from mechanical means, to the use of electronic and computerized system today. Signaling systems used to control the flow of rail traffic may be fixed or moving variety (Agunloye & Oduwaye, 2010). The methods used for entrance to rail stations have also changed overtime from the use of paper boarding passes or tokens to the current plastic cards or e-tickets.

The rail also follows a fixed schedule to ensure a smooth flow of rail traffic. Passengers will buy tickets, either at the station or online, and they will usually be asked to board the rail a few minutes before the rail depart from the station or terminal.

However, the number of entrances and ridership on rail transport far exceeds air travel, which makes it difficult to implement high security technology in rail stations. Also, since trains operate on a tight schedule, the large crowd will render high security systems obsolete and a waste of time for commuters. With that, there were almost 200 terrorist attacks on trains and rail-related transportation from 1998-2003. These attacks have also caused many deaths around the world.

To manage the risk to passenger rail and to attempt to make rail a safer mode of travelling, governments in many countries have implemented different strategies such as hiring more police officers for patrol, baggage screening, and the installation of security cameras to tighten security in rail stations. For example, officers from the Singapore Police Force are often seen patrolling around the different Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) stations around Singapore.

However, such measures have not been very effective in ensuring safety in rail transportation. The 2004 Madrid train bombings killed almost 200 people. This showed that an increase in security is needed in rail transportation around the world.

3.1.3 Road
Road transportation can also be divided into private and public, and is also suitable for the transportation of goods and passengers.  There are many forms of road transport such as cars, buses, motorcycles, vans and lorries.

Private road transportation is generally very safe and personal, where vehicle owners use physical keys or infrared sensors to unlock the car, or to start the engine. Newer cars today, especially producers of hybrid cars are switching to the system of smart keys. With smart keys, the car doors unlock automatically as the driver walks towards it. In the car, there will also be an “engine smart” button that gets the car going without the need to physically turn the key, as long as the key is near to the car. However, many may argue that “smart keys” are generally less safe as compared to the usual keys as hackers would eventually be able to override these new technologies.(George, n.d.).

On the other hand, public road transport is shared and used by the general public. Various countries have their own ways of entrance to public road transport, such as taxis and buses. People can easily flag taxis. On the contrary, entrance to public buses would sometimes require coins, tokens, concession or transport cards.

3.1.4 Waters
Most islands around the world depend on a river, canal, or harbor as part of their transportation infrastructure. Maritime transportation covers a wide area of land, and thus requires large cooperation among governments. Maritime security concerns include, piracy and trade. Efforts have been made to ensure high levels of maritime security (Brownlee & Ken, 2013).

The USA enacted the Maritime Transportation Security act (MTSA) in 2002, which aims to improve the protection of maritime security. It includes vulnerability tests on vessels, assessments on the effectiveness of security efforts, and most importantly biometric identification to restrict access to secure areas to only authorized workers.

3.2 Current use of biometrics in different aspects

Biometric technologies are a better alternative to traditional authentication methods used before. They are more precise, are difficult to hack, and do not require people to carry around secure devices or documents for authentication (Ngugi et al, 2011).

3.2.1 Use for Commercial Purposes
Biometrics is used in airport alongside hard copy passports for identification. Most airports implement the two-tier security system, which reads the user’s passport, and verifies it with a fingerprint scan. This process demonstrates high level of efficiency as it saves the passengers’ time with a faster verification process, and also it does not require the passenger to prepare and carry numerous documents when going for a flight. It also upholds the high levels of security needed in airport customs as it easily recognizes a traveller with fake passport or travel documents.

Biometric technology is also used in the banking and finance industry. It acts in conjunction with the user’s PIN to securely recognize the identity of the owner of the bank account.

Biometrics is also commonly used in justice and law solutions. As widely exemplified on television shows, biometrics, particularly fingerprint technology is very often used in a crime scene, and to identity suspects of a crime after they are compared to the database for identification.

Lastly, biometrics, particularly fingerprint biometrics, is also widely used for attendance taking and time clock-ins. Such technology is become more widely used in schools and workplaces. In such places, when the students or employees scan their fingerprint, the system will recognize the identity of the user and the time that they clock in and clock out. This eliminates the use of hard copy attendance sheets in schools, and also helps companies identify the employee’s working hours to determine paychecks.

3.2.2 Personal Uses
Families are always looking for the most secure keys to prevent theft in their homes. Biometric technology can also be made more personalized, where people install fingerprint or biometric locks for their houses. This provides an alternative to the standard and usual keys for entrance to one’s residential area. When the owner of the house forgets his/her keys to the house, these fingerprint locks will prevent panic among them. Biometrics used in cars can also recognize the identity of the owner, automatically changing the car settings to the users’ most frequent conditions.

Biometrics also assists logical access control, which is the access to various electronic devices, which authorizes entry to specified data and information. For example, many laptops today provide fingerprint scanning as a form of authorization and alternative to the standard use of username and passwords.

Also, the newly released iPhone 5S introduces fingerprint technology to the popular smartphone, which enables the owner of the phone to access data without having to slide or enter their password on the phone.

3.3 Advantages of the use of biometrics
Biometric characteristics are unique to an individual, and are also considered to be one of the most secure methods of safekeeping today (Weerakkody & Niranjala, 2005). Also, people understand that such forms of authentication can provide a more trustworthy identity verification than some thing “you have”, such as a bank card or a PIN alone (Kauffman, 2011).

There are many people in the world today who are without identity. In many developing countries, many poor people do not even have personal documents. In 2000, a research conducted by UNICEF calculated that 50 million babies were not registered at birth, and thus did not have access to their own rights. With such an ongoing situation, the scheme based on birth registration and a passport is rendered useless, and thus biometric technology provides a viable alternative to such a problem.

Traditional methods of the use of identification numbers are no longer dependable due to the spread of knowledge and advancement of technology, and thus biometric technology is a viable solution to such situations, for example the transfer of money. This is because it provides accurate proof of identity. Biometric technology is extremely geared towards surveillance, which ensures high levels of security when it is put to use (Emilio, Andrew, 2012). The Identity Theft resource Center conducted a survey in 2008 and found out that 73% of the surveyors claimed that they were involved in financial crime due to identity falsification. Also, within the UK in 2007, there was a 25% increase in fraudulent misuse of credit and debit card (Kauffman, 2011).

The use of biometrics is also common in crime detection via face or fingerprint scans. It has helped governments recognize prime suspects for certain crimes (Weerakkody & Niranjala, 2005). Facial recognition is a common method of identifying prime suspects. One of the most pertinent examples of the use of biometrics to resolve crimes is during the 2001 Super Bowl, where facial biometrics were used to catch 19 wanted criminals. These criminals’ faces matched a database created by Tampa police, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI (Chachere, 2013).

Biometric technology is the most likely candidate for a global identification system in this technological age. It creates global identification, which is very necessary for communications and travel (Emilio & Andrew, 2012). Biometrics are also difficult to fake or forge as it is very personal, and it is almost impossible to put someone else’s fingerprint on your own finger (Schneier & Bruce, 1999).

The installment of biometric technology for commercial use requires large sums of investment. However, based on a cost-benefit analysis, the use of biometric technology in places that require high security such as airports is considered a necessary, and these industries would not hesitate to invest and lay down large sums of money for such technology. On the other hand, the use of biometrics on a personal level such as homes and cars are not exactly necessary, and would constitute a ‘want’ instead of a ‘need’ as the cost outweighs the benefit (Emilio & Andrew, 2012).

3.4 Disadvantages of the use of biometrics
A common opinion of the people is that biometric technology for the use of information is very intrusive and is highly undignified. This is because people often associate ‘fingerprint technology’ to criminality, and the typical mentality of the people is that the main purpose of biometrics is closely linked to the well-known imagination of crime detection. However, it must be known that there is no connection between biometrics and criminality.

Also, identification is not transparent in today’s world, such that people do not know who has identified them, or when they have been identified, and this may be harmful to identified parties (Emilio & Andrew, 2012). In short, biometrics can help an unknown party identify others’ confidential information without the owner’s consent. The abuse of such information may lead to undesirable situations such as identification theft. (Ngugi et al, 2011)

The quality of biometrics in its commercial use is less accurate and adequate as compared to laboratory experiments and tests. This is due to the environment of the use of such biometrics technology, such as background noises and the quality of scans (Ngugi et al, 2011). At the same time, some biometric systems can easily fail when they are being tampered with, or when they fail to recognize matching DNA or characteristics. False acceptances for hackers and false rejections for actual users can render these biometric systems faulty. Such simple systems are easy to steal and hack into.

Biometric technology is also rendered useless when they fail. This is because professional assistance is needed for the system to start-up again. This may affect many commercial situations such as schools and workplace, which use this technology for attendance taking, or even personal situations where one is restricted access to their own homes (Schneier & Bruce, 1999).

4. Key Ideas

The key idea of this paper highlights the interaction between the uses of biometrics in different forms of transportation today. Other than the use of fingerprint biometrics in airports or private cars, the use of such technology can also be used for more forms of public transportation. Different forms of transportation have varying levels of feasibility in the use of biometrics. There are also different forms of impacts caused by this form of technology and its uses on transportation.

4.1 Use of Biometrics in Air Transportation
The use of biometrics is already in use in air transportation in many airports such as in Singapore, USA and London, and should continue to be in operation. This upholds the high levels of security, which is highly necessary in airports. In particular, the general public also very well receives the use of the two-tier security system, as it is convenient and user-friendly for the travellers. The use of biometrics in airports can be further improved by analyzing other characteristics of an individual, such as eye retinas and irises.

4.2 Use of Biometrics in Public Rail and Buses
The use of biometrics can also be used in public interstate rail by following the two-tier security used in airports. Although the volume of people taking rail daily far exceeds the number of people travelling via air, the implementation of such form of technology is still necessary. Likewise of air transportation, high security levels are needed in rail transport as large numbers of cargo and commuters travel via rail, and the implementation of such form of technology prevents passengers from faking travel documents and identification, ensuring higher security levels in rail transport.

In public rails that travel a shorter distance, such as state rails, the use of fingerprint biometrics is sufficient for the people. This works by the people using their fingerprint to enter the train gantry, instead of using tokens or cards that are prevalent today. Such forms of technology can ensure convenience for the passengers, and is also easy to use. The use of fingerprint biometrics for public train transport is also environmentally friendly, as there is no need for the train industry to continue to create large numbers of tokens or cards for use. With the implementation of fingerprint technology for state rail, commuters’ ages are easily detected and recorded, and they are charged with the fares according to their ages. Machines can also be created to allow people to top-up values cumulated for the use of transportation. This form of technology can also be used for state buses, and people no longer need to carry cards or tokens to ride the public transport around town. People would no longer have to fish through transportation tokens or cards through their bags, especially when they are in a rush.

This is an improvement to the new ‘Sesame Ring’ introduced to help people get through transportation in a more convenient method via wearable technology. The ‘Sesame Ring’ enables people to tap the ring at train or bus gantries, and allow easy top-up and nearby machines. However, unlike the ‘Sesame Ring’, bus and train tokens or cards, the use of fingerprint technology for transportation does not require people to carry any form of device with them anymore.

4.2.1 Feasibility of the use of Biometrics in Public Rail and Buses
The use of biometrics in public rail and buses makes transportation more personal. People no longer need to carry around cards, tokens, or even the Sesame Ring when they take public transport. This makes transportation via public rail or bus safer as people can no longer use others’ transportation cards for their own use.

However, the change from the use of tokens and cards for public transport to the use of biometrics is a whole new method for transportation. This means that commuters must now move away from what they have been using and are familiar with (tokens and cards) and learn this new form of entry to public rails and buses. This may not be well received by some groups of people, such as elderly as they would be less inclined to the advances of technology and would usually prefer to use traditional and long-standing methods instead.

The use of biometrics on public buses may also be problematic, especially when technical glitch occurs. When technical problems occur, passengers take a longer time to board and leave the bus, and this delays the schedule of the buses. Furthermore, the more time the bus spends stationary on the road; it may cause unnecessary congestion on the road. This is a grave problem especially during peak hours.

It must also be recognized that such shift from cards to fingerprints make the people even more reliant on technology. In a situation where a commuter’s fingerprints are difficult to recognize, or a technical glitch occurs, it slows down the time people take to travel. This may cause much inconvenience on their schedule. For such cases, methods of tokens and cards should be retained as back up lest there is a technical problem as a temporary solution and alternative to the problem. This problem is aggravated in fast-paced societies such as Japan and Singapore.

In state rails, it may be rendered unnecessary for such forms of technology to be implemented because state rails do not need such high levels of security. Furthermore, since state rails are used by many people daily, following a cost-benefit analysis, it is more beneficial to use tokens or cards for such form of transportation for its fast-pace and convenience.

Lastly, it may also become a hassle for tourists of a country, as they would need to register their fingerprint in the transportation system for them to take the public transport only for a certain period of time when they are in the country. This makes the use of cards or tokens for transportation a more viable and user-friendly system as compared to the use of fingerprint technology.

4.3 Use of Biometrics in Water Transportation
Biometrics can also be used for the security of water transport by installing such forms of technology at the entrance of the boat to control and record different people entering the boat. It can also be used to accept or deny different peoples’ entry to the boat. This is highly feasible for big ships where large events are held, and where there are important guests and attendees.

4.3.1 Feasibility of the use of Biometrics In Water Transportation
It is less feasible to use fingerprint technology for water transportation, as compared to the other forms of transportations mentioned above. This is because water transportation covers a very wide area of land, and it is difficult to record large numbers of users and passengers of numerous boats and ships in the world as their databases may be of such a wide range.

Also, some forms of water transportation that is still present today are such as wooden boats known as sampans. It is difficult to introduce such forms of technology on these boats, as they may not possess the necessary technical potential needed to install biometrics on the boat.

The machinery of biometric technology may not be water resistant, and since water is high prevalent among water transportation, the implementation of biometric technology on water transportation may not be feasible and long lasting lest water enters the machine, causing technical glitch.

Therefore, the use of fingerprint technology should not be implemented on water technology; as such method is not viable to enhance water security. Other methods such as patrol and building more lighthouses should be implemented to improve water transportation as a safer mode of movement.

5. Future Considerations

5.1 Possible Improvements to the use of Biometrics on Transportation
A good biometric system should conform to ethical and social means, where one’s privacy, rights and data is protected.

One of the methods to build public confidence in the use of biometrics technology is to let them gain the exposure and trust needed for the use of such technology. Trust is very important in the adoption of new technologies. People can also better accept such forms of biometric technology by providing certain services for them, such as security for their personal belongings and assets being held in the biometric system.

Familiarity in time and trust is important for people to accept the use of biometric technology in everyday lives. One such case study is the emergence of online shopping. When online shopping first came around, people were afraid of the environment and contemplated the safety of releasing their personal information online. After awhile, more people starting online shopping, and people started to feel more comfortable to engage in online shopping. Therefore, time and confidence may be needed before people become receptive and accept this new form of technology.

5.2 Social Impacts
The use of biometrics in transportation ultimately increases peoples’ reliance on technology today. If there is a technological breakdown or a glitch, people will panic and fluster as it may affect their individual schedules or plans. People will feel lost when such daily habits fail them. This may cause unrest among the people. If these technological glitches happen frequently, there may be a huge social uproar among both citizens and netizens. This causes duress and instability in the country, which questions the government’s decisions and efficiency. For example in Singapore, the frequent breakdown of the Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) saw many Singaporeans complaining about the efficiency and choices of resource allocation by the government.

As biometrics is still considered a budding and young form of advanced technology, there are minimal chances of hacking of such systems today. Overtime, when experts familiarize themselves with this form of technology, they may be able to set up codes that could hack the system. This may cause much duress, as forging identity is a serious crime. This may also question the effectiveness of all advanced form of security systems put in place today, and people will not be able to trust the security approaches anymore.

5.3 Economic Impacts
The cost of installing biometrics in transportation requires large investment from transportation firms. The change from a token-card transportation system to a biometric transportation system means a reduction in costs of cards and tokens and an increase in costs of technology installation and maintenance. A cost-benefit analysis must be weighed to determine of such investments are necessary for different modes of transportation. The cost of maintaining the system and constant improvement of the technology in the long run must also be considered to the cost of installing such forms of technology.

5.4 Environmental Impacts
The shift from the use of tokens and cards to biometric technology is beneficial for the environment as it requires less use of papers from tree barks to be created. However, considering that tokens and cards must still be put in place for emergency purposes and also for tourist use, it may not be environmentally friendly after all.

6. Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many different advantages and disadvantages to the use of biometrics in everyday life, specifically in the use of transportation. The use of fingerprint technology for the use of transportation can be beneficial to some modes of transportation, such as rail and road. However, the use of such technology may not be viable and suitable in state-rail, bus and water transportation. There must also be a cost-benefit analysis in individual countries if such a technology will advance or hinder society. Different societies of different paces of life respond differently to this new change or technology. Lastly, the use of fingerprint technology as a form of biometrics takes time to be well received by the general public. Therefore, the use of fingerprint technology can be possible in the future, but it will not succeed easily without the public’s support.

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[1] Jamie Teo Sze Min and Zhuang Lingzhen reviewed this paper.