HP's New iPAQ hx2755 Reviewed

Brandon Miniman submitted a story that discusses the whole iPAQ line of handhelds and specifically looks at the newly released iPAQ hx2755 Pocket PC. This one is unique in that it has a biometric fingerprint reader.

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Dear Problems With Fingerprints

[Letter]

Dear Problems With Fingerprints,

There's much debate about whether fingerprints are the primary keys to human identity. Law enforcement has based over 100 years of work on the premise that no two humans, anywhere, ever, have the same fingerprints. Some people say this is hogwash. Let's leave out, for now, the fact that it's not possible to verify this claim at all: there's no way to test all living people and compare their prints. This is troubling, but a bit of a red herring. More troubling is the way fingerprinting is practiced. There's a case in Philly right now where a federal judge has prohibited the prosecution from testifying that two fingerprints "match" -- and Tom Ridge wants fingerprints added to U.S. passports. From this article:

But in 1993, a Supreme Court decision required judges to take a more active role in deciding what scientific evidence to admit. In the case of fingerprints, the so-called "Daubert" guidelines would lead to questions such as: Has the practice of fingerprint identification been adequately tested? What's the error rate? Are there standards and controls?

The answers, respectively, are "no," "no one knows," and "no."

Letter