Ready or Not, Biometrics Finally in Stores

cancer4xmas writes: "It's very exciting to see USA Today's Technology front page saying, "Will that be cash, fingerprint or cellphone?" They're running a story on emerging biometric devices being the most fundamental change in personal finance since 1950, when the credit card was introduced. The concept is now being tested in some stores. Check out the full story." Now couple that tidbit with this morsel from wherley: "In a letter [scroll down a bit] to Bruce Schneier's Cryptogram newsletter, Ton van der Putte tells of a recent invitation from the BBC to comment on the addition of fingerprint biometrics to the British ID card. Using a digital camera and UV lamp he was able to make dummy fingerprints that fooled the readers - and in less time and less cost than similar experiments 10 years ago. He says: '...now the average do-it-yourselfer is able to achieve perfect results and requires only limited means and skills.'"

Comments

Re:Fake Credit cards are easy too

[Popadopolis]

Credit cards are getting harder too, with smartchips and strategically placed strips of thin metal inside. To fake one requires much more sophisticated equipment than five years ago.

Asian Women

[Michael Crutcher]

I've read that that up to 20% of the population does not have a fingerprint suitable for biometric identification. Most of these people are Asian women. If biometric identification ever becomes mandatory are these people simply out of luck?

A better system might require several biometric techniques together to reach an identification.(hand shape and finger prints would go together nicely)

This article mentions the Asian woman fingerprint problem about 3/4 of the way down, but doesn't mention a source for this claim.