During the past decades profiling has gained ground as both a technique and a technology providing automated knowledge construction of individuals or groups of people. This interest has been intensified by the use of biometrics serving as a source of profiling information, with the core capabilities of human verification and identification, as well as a variety of further characterisation possibilities. Biometric characteristics are often persistent and/or non-concealable traits, which therefore have the capability to function as unique linking information between other profiles for each given individual. Biometric profiling serves a wealth of applications, from medicine, statistics and crime prevention to e-commerce and service provision. This chapter seeks to review not only the promising opportunities but also the crucial risks and key concerns deriving from biometric profiling. Hence, we discuss risks that arise from the ability of an adversary to attack a biometric profiling system, as well as risks related to the dangerous functionality of such a system, which can be due to implementation problems or even a misguided conception that was correctly implemented.
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Andronikou, V., Yannopoulos, A., Varvarigou, T. (2008). Biometric Profiling: Opportunities and Risks. In: Hildebrandt, M., Gutwirth, S. (eds) Profiling the European Citizen. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6914-7_7
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