Comment by rzerowan

Comment by rzerowan 12 hours ago

30 replies

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One thing that i would prefer in biometrics would be that the iris/fingerprints get treated as what they are publicly available and easily obtainable data.

At worst using it a a secret key is similar to using your name as a hidden variable for authorisation, whent it sshould strictly be a identification token.And once leaked you cant revoke it .

Back on topic , a Gattaca type system is unbelievably bleak and when(not if) it is finallly shoved through.It wont take long to foist it on the rest of the planet (see the recent visa requirements viz social media and insane bond requirements demanded of some countries like Mali citizens being asked for $15K per visa application).

monksy 6 hours ago

Absolutely not. That is legitimately beyond insane.

Fingerprints are used for investigating crimes. Giving them the access to this information before hand puts you as being investigated everytime they find a fingerprint at a crime scene.

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  • reactordev 34 minutes ago

    They haven’t seen those movies.

    Imagine someone wanting to frame someone for a crime and using their publicly available fingerprint data to manufacture gloves that reproduce that fingerprint.

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anilakar 6 hours ago

DNA too. Until 2018 it was used here as waterproof evidence until the police managed to lock up an innocent person based on DNA and blurry surveillance camera photos only. He was only exonerated because the real perpetrator was caught by chance and confessed a week later.

The transmission chain that was later identified on CCTV was hand to escalator rail to hand, a 2+ km walk, and finally hand to latex glove.

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8fingerlouie 5 hours ago

Biometrics are identification means (including DNA).

They can be used to uniquely identify you, but they're not secret. You literally leave fingerprints and DNA everywhere you go, and obtaining your biometrics is not as hard as guessing your password.

Biometrics should be used for identification, for authentication along with other means (passwords, PIN, device keys, etc), and never for authorization.

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EvanAnderson 12 hours ago

It'll be treated just as stupidly as Social Security numbers, and soon we'll have biometric data breaches. >sigh<

Aside: Social Security numbers should be public now, too. That ship sailed a long time ago and it should be recognized.

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  • Buttons840 8 hours ago

    What if people just publicized their own social security number, and then whenever they had to deal with "identity theft", they just pointed out that their SSN is public information and so it was negligent for the company to believe it was them just because of a SSN.

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    • victorbjorklund 4 hours ago

      Just for the record, I think it’s a crazy idea to make things like DNA or fingerprints public. But a social security number is different. It’s wild how in the US, if someone gets hold of your number, they can do so many things with it. I’m from Sweden, and here we have a similar number called a personal identification number. The last digits are not secret but still sensitive. You can actually Google and find out almost anyone’s number if you want to, and it’s used for similar purposes. But it wouldn’t be enough to cause serious harm just by knowing someone’s number. Identity theft happens here too, but for a company it’s not much different from someone just having your name. It’s still a pain, but it’s nothing like in the US where your life can basically fall apart if someone gets your social security number.

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    • bdamm 7 hours ago

      Most doctor's offices just use my name and birthday to assume authorization to transfer sensitive medical information. I kinda feel like privacy is massive "emperor has no clothes" aspect of society.

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      • nkmnz 7 hours ago

        This behaviour is just because their IT system doesn’t allow regular users to search for names, just for birth dates. Then they pick you by name from a list of people with that birthday.

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  • b00ty4breakfast 7 hours ago

    poor netsec aside, at least I don't leave my social security number lying around every time I touch a door knob.

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  • bobmcnamara 10 hours ago

    Hey now, at least I'm able to change my social security number and passwords.

    Good luck changing eyes.

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    • thayne 9 hours ago

      Changing your social security number is only slightly easier. Okay, maybe that's hyperbole. But having your SSN exposed isn't a good enough to be able to change it. You have to show it is actively being abused, and you can't address the problems another way.

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    • lan321 6 hours ago

      Gotta rotate your access eyelenses every 3 months office policy incoming. /s

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miki123211 7 hours ago

Biometrics can be a secure secret key, as long as there's a trusted guard manning the reader, ensuring that you're showing your real fingerprint / face and not a fake.

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  • hulitu 7 hours ago

    > Biometrics can be a secure secret key

    Nadela, is that you ? /s

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hnbad 5 hours ago

You don't leave iris prints everywhere you go. Even most fingerprints you leave are unusable for identification. Contrary to what CSI may have taught most Americans, even usable DNA samples aren't a given.

Biometrics aren't "publicly available" let alone "easily obtainable". They're easy to extract from you but this is why extraction and retention of this kind of data should be considered extremely invasive and sensitive. That wallet in your pocket may be "publicly available and easily obtainable" but that doesn't mean we should treat it as such - rather we should make sure it's actually illegal to do so without your consent: that's why theft is a crime.

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duped 9 hours ago

Why should they be publicly available and easily obtainable?

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  • anilakar 6 hours ago

    That's not what GP said though.

    The point was not to make them publicly available but treat them as if they had already leaked and allowed anyone to frame anyone else.

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  • rwmj 4 hours ago

    Visit a bus stop, pick up a stubbed out cigarette, leave it at the scene of your next crime.

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    • potato3732842 3 hours ago

      You're gonna want somewhere where people are much more likely to have a record and be in the system than a bus stop.

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      • rwmj 2 hours ago

        A bus stop in a rough part of town then.

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  • ronsor 9 hours ago

    1. Most people already share this data in the form of photos posted online.

    2. So people don't treat it as a "secure secret," because we've been down this road more than once before.

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    • elisbce 9 hours ago

      That's so stupid. Just because I posted a video on TikTok doesn't mean someone should be able to go to the city's public website, look me up on a yellow page and download my photo id and fingerprints.

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      • andreasmetsala 7 hours ago

        That’s not what the poster meant.

        What treating this biometric info as public means is that it won’t be accepted as valid proof of identity. Just because you posted a video on TikTok shouldn’t mean that a scammer can take out a loan in your name.

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    • hulitu 7 hours ago

      > 1. Most people already share this data in the form of photos posted online.

      So most people have a red iris. Problem solved. /s

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