Monday, December 29, 2003
System Boundaries
Goverment Paper on Biometrics
This is an interesting example. The considerations are only those that relate to Biometric Ids. There is no consideration of other impacts. The clear example is that a fingerprint biometric ID system will invalidate fingerprints as a means of prosecuting crime. All it takes is for someone to clearly leave fake prints at a crime scene. End result is that the whole fingerprint system fails, since any defense lawyer will repeatedly bring up the details of fraud.
There are simililar examples with the NHS. The NHS does things that are good for the NHS. The best example of drawing a boundary is flu jabs. The elderly, the frail and those with immune illnesses get the jab. Those that are fit don't. The exception is NHS staff.
The result is this. A flu epidemic is 20% of the population. If that is a week off work, and since the average working year is 200 days, the end result is 0.5% of GDP is lost. Even if these figures are out by 500%, a 0.1% improvement in GDP is major.
If flu jabs don't prevent people taking time off work, the NHS wouldn't give the jabs to their staff.
Nick
This is an interesting example. The considerations are only those that relate to Biometric Ids. There is no consideration of other impacts. The clear example is that a fingerprint biometric ID system will invalidate fingerprints as a means of prosecuting crime. All it takes is for someone to clearly leave fake prints at a crime scene. End result is that the whole fingerprint system fails, since any defense lawyer will repeatedly bring up the details of fraud.
There are simililar examples with the NHS. The NHS does things that are good for the NHS. The best example of drawing a boundary is flu jabs. The elderly, the frail and those with immune illnesses get the jab. Those that are fit don't. The exception is NHS staff.
The result is this. A flu epidemic is 20% of the population. If that is a week off work, and since the average working year is 200 days, the end result is 0.5% of GDP is lost. Even if these figures are out by 500%, a 0.1% improvement in GDP is major.
If flu jabs don't prevent people taking time off work, the NHS wouldn't give the jabs to their staff.
Nick