UT Austin Study Builds Case That Familiarity Breeds Comfort With Biometrics

New research from the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Identity suggests that consumers are increasingly comfortable with biometric authentication.

The research is based on a survey of a representative sample of a thousand American consumers. Ninety-two percent of survey respondents indicated that they felt either “more” comfortable or “about the same” as they felt two years ago with respect to using biometric technology, while less than eight percent said they now felt less comfortable with it.

As for specific modalities, the survey found that fingerprint recognition is most popular, with 58 percent indicating that they are very comfortable with the technology. That echoes other survey findings such as a recent study by AYTM Market Research, and they seem to correlate with the prevalence of fingerprint scanners on contemporary smartphones – a relatively recent development that seems to have gone a long way in familiarizing consumers with biometric technology.

Meanwhile, as UT News reports, only “about a third” of respondents said they were very comfortable with any other biometric modality, and there was a particular skepticism about facial recognition, with which 13 percent said they felt “not at all comfortable”. That could change quickly, given Apple’s championing of face authentication on its iPhone X, which is anticipated to continue for its future devices.

The Center for Identity’s report comes after the University of Texas at Austin won a contract from the Department of Homeland Security last summer to research how biometric technology can improve everyday life; though in this particular case, UT News reports that the research was funded by TransUnion.

Source: UT News

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May 8, 2018 – by Alex Perala