A new age of Identity Authentication has arrived. Plastic ID cards, paper forms, multiple passwords and pins are being replaced with Biometrics. This science utilizes biological properties to identify individuals; for example, fingerprints, a retina scan, and voice recognition. .
The United States Military along with many companies have begun research and development on this emerging technology, especially after the push for a stronger national homeland security in the last 4 years. There are products already out in the market and it is slowly catching up with the consumers. As this technology gets sharper and faster, the demand is going to increase rapidly.
At this stage the ideas are not yet matured, and products are emerging but they will undergo radical changes as Nanotechnology kicks in. This science of altering materials at molecular levels to create new materials is going to play a major role. Both biometrics and nanotechnology combined could create products too small to be viewed by the human eye. A human being's entire life history could be stored in a chip smaller than a grain of sand. This type technology is under research in the military. There are also a lot of risks we will have to deal with in the future with this technology. At the moment we do not know much about the potential impact of human-made nano-scale particles on the environment and human health. The idea of using physical traits as passwords may seem futuristic, but this technology has taken ground and is growing. We can expect nanotechnology being used in the military within the next 15 to 20 years. .
By 2004 it is predicted the biometrics market will expand to $2.5 billion from the $200 million in 1999. Today guns are being developed with biometric nanotechnology that can only be used by authorized users. This poses are few concerns because it would limit soldiers (or the police) to only their specific assigned weapons.