Leader: Can we trust the public?

Should we care what the public thinks about technology?

The results are certainly inconsistent. So far this week we've heard that even though most Brits don't understand what biometrics are, 76 per cent of people in the UK are now more in favour of them than a year ago.

Why? They believe biometrics will increase personal safety and three-quarters of those surveyed believe the technology will help fight terrorism.

At the same time, a separate survey revealed Europeans are worried about RFID tags infringing on their privacy because of the large amounts of data that could be collected about their buying behaviours should products in shops be tagged.

This seems quite clearly to reflect the amount of time and money spent on selling these technologies to the public.

While introducing biometric passports, the UK government hailed biometrics as a technology that will improve personal safety and fight terrorism - so that's what people are beginning to believe.

RFID, which is used largely in retail supply chains, has had no such campaign behind it.

And never mind that the biometric passport includes a wireless chip quite similar to RFID which allows them to be read quickly at immigration checkpoints.

The moral of the story?

It's hard for the public to understand the implications of every new technology - heck, it's hard enough for those of us who do this for a living - and they should not be expected to.

Because of this perhaps public opinion - especially when based on focus groups and not a proper referendum - should not be relied on too heavily when choosing which technologies are best for public projects and creating laws.