Biometrics is of increasing interest to gaming regulators and software developers. Both groups can add Siemens to the ever-expanding list of companies that offer a biometric identification solution.
The worldwide electronics giant first introduced its ID Mouse three years ago, and in Europe the device is now the best-selling stand-alone biometric product on the market. According to Siemens, its mouse was the first PC mouse to use a fingerprint sensor based on capacitive technology, increasing both the size and resiliency of the product.
This fall Siemens introduced a new version of the device, called the ID Mouse Professional. It allows users to log onto not only their computer with only a brush of their fingertip against the mouse's surface, but also lets them authenticate themselves to Internet-based applications.
"It's a security device and definitely a convenience device," said Mike Weber, Siemens' regional sales director for North America. "Security because you don't need to remember your password to your PC; the login is done via a fingerprint. Convenience because you can't forget your password, which happens a lot in a corporate environment."
The product could be of obvious use to anyone seeking an extra layer of security for his or her workplace computer. But for the I-gaming industry, the product could also allow users to identify themselves to online gaming sites in such a way that would validate their age and jurisdiction of residence to the site, therefore allowing the site operator to comply with regulations in countries like the United States. In the United States, only one state, Nevada, has officially declared Internet gambling legal, even though it hasn't yet established the rules to govern it yet.
Weber said the ID Mouse Professional could be used to validate characteristics such as a person's name and country depending on the software the user pairs with it. Siemens makes the hardware and joins with other companies to provide the accompanying software.
"It depends on what you want to do with the software," Weber said. "We give you the possibility to read the fingerprint and store it. It's up to the client what you want to do afterwards."
Adding to the security of the mouse is that it does not actually send anyone's entire fingerprint out onto the Internet. Siemens doesn't register any fingerprints because it considers the practice too dangerous considering the damage that would occur if anyone hacked into the system and stole the prints. The company records characteristics of the print in a template, he said.
"If a hacker finds those prints," Weber said, "he won't be able to recreate the fingerprint out of those points. It's worthless for him."
Weber also said the product could be enabled with an electronic wallet function, allowing the user to pay for e-purchases with the same fingerprint that allows him or her to log on. He said a bank in Germany, the name of which he could not reveal, is already giving the ID Mouse to its customers free if charge to get them to do more banking from home. For now, he said, most of the mouse's users employ the device in a business capacity. But he hopes that will change.
"We are trying to go from top to down," he said. "We are trying to get in corporate environments to get the product well known, and then go slowly down to the consumer end. I hope that many banks will buy the mouse and spread it out in the consumer market, to get used to it."