[holding answer 10 September 2007]: In biometric systems, the term ‘failure’ can be defined in many different ways depending on the specific application. As a result, it is difficult to give a definitive answer to a question such as this.
For instance, in a fully automated biometric access control application it may be preferable to configure the system such that there is a possibility of occasionally allowing access to some unauthorised individuals (false match) than to risk rejecting those who are entitled to it (false non-match).