Joseph Atick

About the author: In October 2001, when Joseph Atick issued the following remarks, he was chief executive officer of the Visionics Corporation, a leader in facial recognition technology. In 2002 Visionics merged with Identix, an industry leader in fingerprint identification technologies, and Atick now serves as Identix's president and CEO.

Facial recognition technology combines video cameras with special software in order to automatically scan crowds for wanted individuals. The video camera captures images of individuals' faces, which are automatically compared against a database of suspected terrorists. Relevant authorities are alerted if a match is found. Such a system does not permanently record the faces of those it scans, so the technology cannot be used to track the movement of ordinary citizens. Used at airports and other areas where security is a major concern, facial...