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Where "universal" stands for "The trait must be owned by any person (except for rare exceptions ...)"?

(Notice: this is a question related to biometric systems, hopefully this is the right stackexchange site).

Federico Ponzi
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This is absolutely not my area, but I think the answer is no.

It isn't universal because not everyone can write (illiteracy, blindness, missing limbs, spring to mind) - see https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/118600/applicants-unable-to-write.pdf .

I would assume that if there exist provisions for delivering a passport without the need for a signature (thumbprints are one option, but assume that the person has a thumb - the absence of one might be part of the reason the same person cannot write), then it isn't universal.

I also suspect that inability to write might in fact be common enough it can't be considered an edge case - the worldwide literacy rate is apparently around 86% (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate).

iwaseatenbyagrue
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    as someone with a tremor in my hands, I can write my signature, but there is trouble comparing it reliably to any past signatures (although the tremor itself makes for a biometric source - it's hard for others without tremors to duplicate) – schroeder Mar 07 '17 at 14:03
  • @schroeder I don't have tremors and my signatures are still rather difficult to compare to previous signatures. I know many people who don't sign consistently, generally due to rushing / crappy PoS systems (e.g. the electronic PoS systems are especially bad at enabling you to sign accurately; some even require you to use your finger instead of a pen!). – Dan Mar 07 '17 at 14:21