More than three million people in the United States now regularly pay for goods at the supermarket, chemist or corner shop by scanning their fingers and punching in a PIN rather than using debit or credit cards, The Economist reported in its Technology Quarterly last weekend.

Biometrics — the use of body measurements such as eye scans or fingerprints to determine or verify identity — is finally taking off, it said. “And all it took to convince the public of its merits, it seems, was the promise of shorter queues or a few extra loyalty points.”

The writer concludes that governments trying to introduce biometric passports and identity cards should learn the lesson: that people will accept them if they see benefits in them.
This morning comes news from the BBC that passengers at Heathrow are being invited to sign up for a biometrics trial in return for being able to bypass boarding queues — the same boarding queues that have lengthened because of tighter security measures.