Letters to the editor

The following two letters are responses from an FCW.com poll question that asked: Do you support giving feds smart identification cards with biometric data, such as fingerprints, for building security?

The use of biometrics on a smart card is a technology that is not inherently good or bad, similar to stem cell research. The good/bad label gets applied through implementation. For biometrics/smart cards to succeed and not be misused in the process is, as always, a human task.

Jeff Rager NCS Pearson Inc.

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Security, until only recently, hasn't been a particularly debatable issue. However, it's now painfully clear how naivete can cost lives, money and a way of life.

We live within the guidelines of a "social contract." We are given privileges in return for our compliance with certain rules. This social system works only as well as our ability to control compliance within that framework.

Clearly, we have not maintained our ability to control those among us who choose not to abide by the rules of our social contract. It's an unfortunate and disappointing realization, but truth nonetheless.

Heightened security, including the use of biometrics may be the only way to control those who don't intend to follow the rules under which we choose to live. The adjustment may be distasteful. The reality of the situation may, in fact, demand we choose the lesser of two evils.

Name withheld by request