Brits warm to hot biometrics and cold lager

Is a pint really all it took to swing public opinion?

Although opposition to biometrics - the authentication of the individual based on factors such as iris or fingerprint recognition - remains strong, support appears to be growing as long as there is a tangible benefit for the average man and woman on the street.

And perhaps the most average activity of all - going into the local pub for a pint – is one area where biometrics could find a more welcoming constituency, according to the results of a silicon.com poll.

While many people remain opposed to large scale biometric schemes such as those being proposed to underpin new passports and ID cards, 40 per cent of voters in a silicon.com poll said they would be prepared to register their fingerprints with a pub scheme, such as that trialled in Yeovil if it meant they would be safer.

Troublemakers would be barred from the pubs and their fingerprints retained on the system to prevent them entering any pub registered with the scheme.

Want to know more?

Read silicon.com's A to Z of biometrics.

And that seems like good news to 40 per cent of readers who took the silicon.com poll.

However, although it would appear support for biometrics is growing, the anti- lobby is still strongly opposed. While 31 per cent of respondents said they don't think a pint is really worth the hassle, 29 per cent said they would consider moving away from any town which launched such a scheme.

The poll was taken by more than 450 readers over the past four days.