"I don't like putting my face on the Internet!": An acceptance study of face biometrics as a CAPTCHA replacement

Abstract

Biometric technologies have the potential to reduce the effort involved in securing personal activities online, such as purchasing goods and services. Verifying that a user session on a website is attributable to a real human is one candidate application, especially as the existing CAPTCHA technology is burdensome and can frustrate users. Here we examine the viability of biometrics as part of the consumer experience in this space. We invited 87 participants to take part in a lab study, using a realistic ticket-buying website with a range of human verification mechanisms including a face biometric technology. User perceptions and acceptance of the various security technologies were explored through interviews and a range of questionnaires within the study. The results show that some users wanted reassurance that their personal image will be protected or discarded after verifying, whereas others felt that if they saw enough people using face biometrics they would feel assured that it was trustworthy. Face biometrics were seen by some participants to be more suitable for high-security contexts, and by others as providing extra personal data that had unacceptable privacy implications.