Australia's biometrics players are poised to draft an industry-wide code of conduct amidst comments from the IT Security Council that a "gullible, wide-eyed public" does not trust existing privacy protection measures.

The move comes amidst indications from the government that the application of biometric technologies to its existing passport database has revealed hitherto undetected instances of identity fraud.

Chris Joscelyne, chairman of the IT Security Forum, said "so far, the industry has largely failed" to make consumers aware of the checks and balances in place in the industry to deal with privacy, hygiene and safety issues.

"Unfortunately you so have a gullible wide-eyed public out there that can be persuaded by fear and science fiction movies," Joscelyne said. "This is not an engineering challenge, it is a marketing challenge".

The chairman of the Australian Biometric Institute, Dr Ted Dunstone, said establishment of a code of conduct was key to the industry's acceptance and success going forward.

"We are aiming to establish a code which will assist in defining companies obligations with respect to privacy," Dunstone said. "Hopefully it will alleviate some of the problems with respect to privacy, and clarify some of the legal issues."

Dunstone said the code would developed in conjunction with the government's National Office of the Information Economy, with initial expressions of interest in helping develop the code called for at the upcoming Biometrics Institute Conference and Exhibition.

"By the next biometrics conference we would expect significant progress," Dunstone said.

The chairman said he expected a "damburst" of newly-developed applications to flood the sector by mid-2003 as the relatively young industry progressed towards maturity.

"There is a lot of development activity going on in different sectors which is not well publicised," Dunstone said. "In terms of adoption people are a lot more familiar with the concept."

Another key player, Robin McKenzie, senior policy adviser to the Officer of the Federal Privacy Commission said, if appropriately regulated, biometrics could actually assist in guaranteeing privacy rather than detract from it.

"A lot of the privacy issues which need to be addressed are not unique to biometrics," McKenzie said. "[however], its potential as a unique identifier, and biometrics which can be collected covertly are a concern, and we will be addressing these issues."

McKenzie went on to point out that biometric identifiers needed to operate in conjunction with other technologies so as not to disadvantage people who either objected to, or were unable to use biometric identification techniques.

"If any organisation is planning to implement biometrics they need to build privacy into the system from the ground up," McKenzie said. "It is very expensive to build it in later."

However, McKenzie said she was keen to see such concerns dealt with so as to exploit the security and privacy-enhancing aspects of biometric technology.

"The ability of organisations to actually make us of biometrics will depend very much on consumers acceptance of it as a technique," McKenzie said. "Without their acceptance it won't become a viable technology."

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