Biometrics at the Statue of Liberty

gurps_npc writes "There is an interesting CNN article about the Statue of Liberty finally opening again (it was closed since 9/11 for security reasons). They have increased security to 'airport levels', and offer lockers for people to rent, partly to keep those incredibly dangerous objects like swiss army knives away from the fragile Statue of Liberty. But instead of keys, the lockers use fingerprint readers to open and close (approximately one reader for every 50 lockers)." The article notes that the design was dictated by the Transportation Security Administration.

Comments

do you have to use a finger?

[way2trivial]

would any sufficiently swirly object work?
a knuckle for example?

Which locker did I use?

[ack154]

Others forgot their locker number upon their return, or didn't remember which finger they had used to check it out.

That would be my worry. At least with oldschool lockers, you would get a big fat key with a number on it, so you knew what was yours. Unfortunately, there's no mention if there's a receipt printed out or anything with a locker number and/or time on it or something.

Convienently for terrorists

[g0bshiTe]

There is a Gift Shop located across from the lockers where they can purchase a package of Gummi Bears to bypass the biometric locks on the lockers.
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/25/131 5254&tid=172

My fingerprint reader story

[JessLeah]

I was once going to a client's data center at Globix. I was carrying a particularly nifty, but heavy, item that I found on the streets of Chinatown (an old Commodore monitor-- which, as I surmised, was still in working order!). Because I was holding this bulky object, I fumbled a bit as I pressed my finger to the scanner.

I was still let in.

So I went in, put the monitor down, and came back out to experiment. I tried another finger. It worked... I tried a knuckle. It worked...

Finally, I held my hair (long hair) back, leaned down, and gently pressed the tip of my NOSE to the scanner plate.

It worked.

Moral of the story: Biometric security is sometimes just so much heehaw, and it does malfunction (and yields false-positives as well as false-negatives).

Re:MOD Parent Overdramatic

[WindBourne]

While you may see it as overdramatic, it is precisely these conditions that our forefathers were opposed to. In addition, Eisenhower's last speech warns as well. Historically, countries are not stripped of rights overnight. It is a slow process in response to some dramtic pressure. Rarely is the pressure point that bad, yet, ppl will give up control to get rid of it. Witness over time:

• how countries have tried to bring back monarchies
• How about how the communist came to power in old Russia
• Hitler was actually voted in.
• per Colin Powell and Richard Clarke, in the last 2 years, we have had the military planning how to take over the government iff we have another attack.
• I was talking to somebody (a respectable state-level politician) who claims that the draft will be brought back immeadiatly after the election (this time with women, but who knows).

Overdramtic? I am not so sure about that.

But I have to agree with the poster who speaks about using boxes to change things.

1. Soap box
2. Election Box
3. Jury Box
4. Ammo Box