New iPhone & fingerprint technology

[BENESSE]

Does anyone think this is a good idea? I did at first (am in the market for a new phone), now I'm not so sure for exactly the same reasons the article outlines.

I'd really like to hear especially from those who think the advantages outweigh the potential risks.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/13/opinio...ntent=My+Yahoo

[canid]

I'd say as a vague caution; don't do it. Of course, I don't see a particularly large risk in giving apple my fingerprint, but I neither see a compelling rationale for doing so.

More important to me is this: the history of consumer level fingerprint validation is a little underwhelming, and the security implications there should maybe worry you. If you have a good reason to want your phone locked, why not use proven technology which has never been broken by a damp zerox?

[Ken]

No! Everything on every computer or smart device is subject to hacking and privacy theft. This is an open invitation to steal your fingerprint "identity." Why not simply publish all of your account names, account numbers, passwords, and key codes? And then, we can publish our DNA profiles.

[crashdive123]

For many of us - our fingerprints are already in a computer data base (ccw permits, security clearances, military service, convictions).

[LowKey]

Some of us work trades where fingerprinting is iffy. I would never buy a biometric safe as I wouldn't be able to depend on being able to open it depending on the type of work I'd done the days before. I had to use my PIN number as the store readers for NICS never worked for me (and in fact the state is phasing them out because most have become obsolete hardware/software and they don't want to pay to update.) Even the officer doing my 10-card for my CCW had to try multiple times to get my prints to read on the PDs device. Good thing I was a nice compliant citizen and not some drug crazed perp being fingerprinted.
Anyway,
Fingerprints existing in the NICS, AFIS or military databases I don't worry so much about (though I have to admit to being somewhat angry about having to voluntarily give a 10-card to the state as a law abiding citizen in order to exercise a constitutional right.)

Fingerprints existing on a far more hackable device or in a corporate database? Like Apple? Or Microsoft? Or any of the phone companies? Not so much a good idea. I'll keep my phone a phone thank you.

This is all about convenience.
We are getting ever closer to the "convenience" of having an embedded ID chip requirement.
It isn't funny. I give that 5 years. Maybe not even as some people are doing it already.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004Oct13.html

[BENESSE]

For many of us - our fingerprints are already in a computer data base (ccw permits, security clearances, military service, convictions).

That was Mr. B's argument. He didn't find the article too compelling, at least not enough to put him off owning the phone. I'm still on the fence...but then my fingerprints aren't on the record anywhere. Just footprints when I was born.

[crashdive123]

I just picked up my first Iphone (5). I figure that the Iphone 37 will be out by the time I learn how to use most of the things on this one.

[Ken]

iPhone: 5 tips & tricks (iOS 6)

http://www.sidhtech.com/news/iphone-5-tricks-you-may-not-know-about/10019691/

[Ken]

iPhone 5 tips and tricks

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-5-helpful-tips-and-tricks/

[canid]

By the way, it's already broken, and broken with the years-old methods for defeating other optical fingerprint recognition tech:

http://www.ccc.de/en/updates/2013/cc...-apple-touchid

[Ken]

I read that yesterday. One article said it was no big deal. The rest was technical stuff, so clicked off.

[canid]

It's no big deal unless you actually have a valid reason to want your phone secured against hands-on access.

So they're going to do like other companies have done with other similar authentication technologies, and market it instead to those who don't actually need it.

Ineffectual access control certainly works as a deterrent, but predominately to those who are the least likely to present a threat in the first place. It's like saying: "Well, I'm not especially secure, but at least I'm secure against all but the threats which might really matter."

[Rick]

The only drawback I see is my laptop doesn't read my fingerprint about half the time so I stopped using the biometric login. My fingerprints are on file as a CCW holder. I could care less who has them. It would not be a selling point for me or something that would keep me from buying it if I wanted one. In short, a non-event.

[canid]

Similarly, my asus had a face-login utility with is very secure (if only accessed while locked out). The drawback is that the frequency of false-negatives approached 80% and the software is pretty slow. I managed to improve it by taking around 700 shots of my face, in various lighting conditions (and degrees of facial hair), from different angles. Enough that it takes it about 30 seconds at a shot to decide if it recognized me.

[Rick]

I just don't ever want one of those things wired into my "Emergency Exit For When Bad Guys Are After You" doors.

[canid]

Haha. Seriously. There are times to rely on complex technology, and there are times-decidedly-not to.

[Old Professor]

I bought a gun safe that had a biometric finger print access option. No matter what I did I could not get it to recognize my finger print(s) 95% of the time! In my opinion, the technology is too unreliable to risk your life on in an emergency.

[hunter63]

I glad I just lead a boring life....no need to have all the "stuff"....I just wish I could get a new phone, free,... that used $5 buck batteries, and can make calls on....call any where cheap........I really have no need for much more.

[canid]

I bought a gun safe that had a biometric finger print access option. No matter what I did I could not get it to recognize my finger print(s) 95% of the time! In my opinion, the technology is too unreliable to risk your life on in an emergency.

If it's one of those little pistol saves (of the easy to crack, fingerprint type which I've seen) then at the least, you could clobber an intruder with it readily.

[JPGreco]

Mythbusters cracked a finger print device with a poor xerox. That was actually a really neat episode where they were trying to bypass several different security measures.