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Fingerprints Replace Credit Cards in Seattle
prostoalex writes "According to CNET News.com, Thriftway introduced biometric systems in its Seattle stores as far back as 2002. The customer would have to be identified first and submit his own fingerprints, as well as register credit cards with the grocery store. But then a Pay By Touch system became quite popular among the store regulars. According to CNET, "one man even drove 400 miles to use the technology". The store also reports 0% of such transactions being fraudulent."
Here in we've been using a similar system for unique biometric identification of customers for years. It works a bit like this:
1) Walk into stor
2) Say 'Hello Ifan' to Ifan, the shopkeeper
3) Ifan says 'Hello ' back if he knows you
4) Say '2 grenade launchers, one baboon, and a pint of guinness please, my good man'
5) Ifan produces the above, charges your account, takes payment later. Nice and easy. And if you don't pay....
6) Chop!
Someone may have more experience with this than I do, but this is a bit scary. Has anyone else read the book "Stealing the Network". It goes into some detail on the subject of synthetic fingerprints and just how easy they are to make at home. The book is at home and I am at work or I would post the links that they have as refereneces. I can see the usefulness of the fingerprint perhaps replacing the signature or pin number, but the whole credit card!!! I don't know about you guys but when I realize that I left my credit card sitting around in a public place I freak out. I guess I am going to have to wear gloves from now on, or carry around a bottle of cleaning solution everywhere I go.
Someone with more experience please comment, especially if you have the links from that book, I am curious to read up.
Thanks
Crawl This - http://darkry.net/test/test.php
1) Have sales of gummy bears experienced a dramatic surge in the area?
and...
2) Can I choose which finger to give them for my biometrics?
I guess the barcode-on-the-forehead project didn't go so well.
If someone gets an electronic imprint of your credit card number, you call VISA and get a new number.
If someone gets an electronic imprint of your finger print, you'll be chasing down fraudulent purchases FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE because you CAN'T change your finger print.
Ticketmaster, 5 years later, "I'm sorry sir, but you *DID* buy 10 first-row superbowl tickets. Our computer says you did it over the internet and we have your finger-print scan on file to prove it."
RUN, don't walk, when someone in a store asks for a scan of your finger-print.
Sam
People don't realize just how *dangerous* the fraud would be if this became widespread.
Take into account that we touch a LOT of things. Daily. You know those seedy, scammy ATM's? Wouldn't be very difficult to make one with a thumb reader to conceal an instant CCD-based scanner or something of the sort. All the machines check for is the pattern, and it would NOT be hard to fake this.
Rubber thumb overlay, anyone? The HEIGHT WOULD NOT MATTER, the machine would detect the right print no matter how long the grooves were. Sure, it won't work at a store, but it WILL work at an ATM.
But here's the worst part.
Once your print has been *breached*, you simply *can't get another one*. You're screwed.
Yes, safeguards can be put to minimize the use of overlays, but once again, only in official locations. Independently owned ATM's either won't ever be able to use this technology or will ruin it the very moment those prints are made public.
It would NOT be hard to rapidly prototype a piece of rubber (or some other, better, squishing polymer) based on a figureprint picture, let alone streamline the process to make dozens or even thousands more.
Of course, if it was purely for stores (and stay wary of those self-checkouts), maybe.... maybe.
I dunno, maybe I'm off my rocker here, I just came up with this counterargument instantly. The thought of someone with lots of stealing in mind coming up with a way to fake prints to use in unmanned scanner locations (let alone someone forcing someone else's thumb onto the scanner in a much scarrier mugging incident) is kind of scary.
Wait a second now...
Perhaps a bioelectric scanner that doesn't work (has to be tested with a variety of conductive materials, constantly, along with calluses...) unless a real live thumb is touching it still leaves you in danger of mugging (and setting it up so that the customer can't purchase unless they're calm would only lead to MUCH scarrier mugging incidents) but would stop fraud for the most part.
Yeah, still a long way to go before widespread use.
But he would drive 400 miles,
And he would drive 400 more,
Just to be the man who drove 800 miles
To be a big lo-ser.
(apologies to the Proclaimers)