Hrmm:
The finger scan used at the shop in Sterling, known as a biometric payment system and made by a Herndon firm, is just starting to be installed at convenience stores and supermarket chains around the country, another step in a revolution that is turning the human body into the ultimate identification card.
Already faces and fingerprints are used to track visitors coming into the country. Computer passwords are being replaced by thumbprints at some companies and iris scans are giving consumers in England and Germany access to their bank accounts at ATMs.
The owner of BioPay LLC, which makes the technology used at the store, predicts the finger scan soon will be ubiquitous, offering speed and convenience for consumers. But civil libertarians have raised privacy concerns, citing some recent problems. In February, ChoicePoint Inc., a background-screening company that collects personal information — including biometric data — said it accidentally sold more than 100,000 individual profiles to identity thieves.
Discuss.
Mike
All Your DNA Are Belong To Us
Steven
Time to start moving off the grid. Put cash in your mattress.
p.lukasiak
The thumbprint thing scares me, because I imagine it would be fairly easy to create a latex (or similar) version of someone’s thumbprint — and unlike a credit card number or password, you can’t change your own thumbprint. Once the identity thieves have it, you are screwed….
Rick
Well, let’s try this application in elections.
Cordially…
Jay
I’d hate to see the first court case in which someone was fraudulently or erroneously debited and has to prove it.
Slartibartfast
Given the name “ChoicePoint” showed up in the article, I’d speculate they’ve already sold the felon list to telemarketers.
Don
Fingerprint identification doesn’t have to be a data-retention nightmare. We assume that any system must have a picture of your print and then compare it to a new picture when you press your finger on the scanner. However it’s just as likely that the stored information is a ‘hash’ or other description of just the pertinent things for comparison.
To put it in english, you don’t have to read every word on every page to compare two books. You could look at their cover colors, weights, the font on the first page, first line and last line and a few other things and all together they probably make up a unique identification.
The big problem is that fingerprint identification doesn’t work. cryptome.org/gummy.htm shows just how easy a determined person can copy this biometric info.
Mr Furious
I’m not convinced in the accuracy of fingerprint ID and as mentioned above, if your “identity” is stolen, you’re screwed.
This is abad idea.
As far as the big brother argument, it’s the same thing as the National ID card to me. You can already be tracked everywhere by your credit card purchases anyway, so what’s the difference with this? Use cash or assume the risks.
Rick
I’d cheerfully run the risk of identity theft of those bastards would pay may taxes. But, nooooo.
Cordially…
Fledemaus
Why don’t they just tatoo barcodes on everyone and be done with it?
Justin Faulkner
Scary stuff…it really goes to show how our politics has not even come close to catching up to technology. We’re still (shamefully) having to debate whether homosexuals are human beings deserving of respect and equal rights.
It’s interesting, because around here (north KY, south WV) it’s traditionally been Christian conservatives who balked at such identification schemes. But their party’s draconian immigration policies and support for massive deregulation seems to me to be helping it right along.