Slashdot Mirror
Would You Submit Biometric Data to Join a Gym?
An anonymous reader asks: "I went to my gym (Rocky River, OH branch) yesterday and there was a huge line of people at the counter. When I went to the scanner to swipe my membership card, I noticed they were training people in the use of their new security system that requires the input of your thumb print. There currently a story on boingboing that mentions a tanning salon in Arkansas that is enacting a similar policy. I'm going to call the gym later today and see what type of security they have on their network. I guess we can look forward to a future where these sorts of personal services clubs require the submission of biometric data. I was wondering how the members here at Slashdot feel about the security risks involved in submitting biometric data to small private companies?"
In 1997, my YMCA switched their system over to require you to submit a 3D hand scan for entry. You would place your right hand on this little device and punch in a number, then this other thing would go around your hand.
How the hell can you "spoof other systems", short of making a duplicate thumb? What keeps those perps from just getting your thumbprint off a glass door you touched? Besides, what makes you think you can duplicate the thumb from the biometric system's data file? If whoever made that system had a shred of intelligence, they would use a one-way hash for thumbprints and match based on that.
Think before you post next time.
There are widgets that you can connect to your computer to let you login with your thumbprint.
No there aren't. You must be talking about someone else's computer.
Lots of "secure" things rely on your fingerprint
Name one. So far you're 0 for 1, suggesting that my fingerprint could be used to get into my computer.
About the only thing I can think of is someone who wanted to make an elaborate plan to frame me for a crime. And anyone who wanted to go through that much trouble could easily get my fingerprints anyway.