Americans Give Thumbs Up To Biometrics
from the the-two-sides-of-biometrics dept
There really are two sides to biometrics, and the latest study suggests that people understand the two competing issues. First, is the ability to use biometric information to prevent identity theft. Second, is the ability to use biometric information to spy on you. This new study, which says that Americans like the idea of biometrics, shows that they like it for the first ability, but not so much for the second. There still seems to be some willingness to use biometric information for questionable activities, but people are hoping that certain "safeguards" are built in to how they're used. This might be problematic, though. So far, safeguards have proven to be somewhat useless with regular passwords, and a breach in a biometric database can have much more disastorous results. If someone figures out how to copy your thumbprint, it's not like you can go out and get new thumbs.
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hey...
Yeah, the first few implementations will probably be broken trivially, and there will be mayhem and nakedness everywhere, but maybe after a lawsuit or two they'll improve to a usable state and get a bit smarter - like those retinal scanners that aren't fooled by photos, that kind of thing.
We can hope. It's not like common sense will prevent these shiny new toys from being rolled out...
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