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Library to Require Fingerprint to Use PCs
FearUncertaintyDoubt writes "Three libraries in Naperville, IL, soon will start requiring patrons who use the library's PCs to provide a fingerprint scan. The article says, ' Library officials say the added security is necessary to ensure people who are using the computers are who they say they are. Officials promise to protect the confidentiality of the fingerprint records.'"
Initially, I was against this development, but after reading TFA, I actually feel al lot better aboout it, for a few reasons:
From TFA:
The library taking a stand like this gives me slightly more confidence in trusting them with biometric data...at least they won't give it up without the proper authorization, but this doesn't address the issue of data theft. The following quote, however...
Also from TFA:
It's important to note that most biometric systems work in this fashion. If each organization who wished to use biometrics were required to use their own, distinctive algorithm, the danger of other organizations using that biometric data for its own purposes would be greatly reduced.
Actually, there's just one thing in TFA that troubles me:
Come now, Mark...which is it...confidentiality or privacy? They can't both be your middle name...
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I'm sure there are going to be many cries of privacy invasion in regard to this. The library's published reason for taking this measure is:
...library officials discovered that many patrons logged onto library computers using library cards and passwords of friends or relatives. That realization, coupled with a new library policy that allows parents to install automatic Internet filters on their children's accounts, prompted the search for better computer security...
So there's the problem. Please include your personal counter suggestion with any criticisms.
I'm a big tall mofo.
So, if I go to this library with a fake ID and they take my fingerprints how are they going to make sure that I am who I claim I am, if they're not crossreferencing any other fingerprint databases?
The whole idea is just completely absurd.
In Soviet Russia, I ruled you
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
Freedom to read what you want without scrutiny seems like something Americans should hold dear. Using the public computers there seems like a natural extension.
I would love to dismiss this story as alarmist, but I fear the threat is real. These liberties we keep surrendering are starting to stack up. It's time to start using your votes on these issues while we still can.
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But it's still shockingly cavalier to describe the technology as "just a bar code".
As he states - it is a one-way algorithm. If I have your barcode off your library card, I cannot reconstruct your name, SSN, birthdate, and all that without going into the library's database. With the number-sequence that this system creates, I cannot reconstruct your fingerprint at all. I cannot reconstruct any of the data previously mentioned without going into the database. So, instead of creating a random number with the unix timestamp as a seed, they are creating a random number with your fingerprint as a seed. What is so shocking about that?
I have difficulty understanding why this seems like a good idea to anyone
Hmmm... I guess someone needs to go to your library, tell them that they are you - they can even print a fake barcode on any old library card since barcode techology is open and freely available to anyone and everyone. Then, they can surf for child porn on your account. When the feds come to your door, you can explain to them that it is a terrible idea for the library to go to every measure to ensure that patrons are who they say they are.
I have difficulty understanding why this gentleman seems incapable of understanding people's worries about a fucking library requiring fingerprints!
There is a difference between requiring fingerprints on record (actually having your fingerprint in a database somewhere) and using your fingerprint to create a random sequence of numbers. If you cannot see that, then you are forcing yourself to be blind to it.
The previous comment is purposely vague and generalized, but all of the facts are completely true.
Incidentally, same election shows Dubya carrying the township by ~3.5K votes out of 39K cast. They've certainly got their conservatives there, but it's a bit more balanced than you apparently think.
It's Illinois, the right votes Democrat just as often as they vote Republican. I mean, you have heard of conservative Democrats, right? Hell, the strongman of Chicago, Daley, is not exactly what I would call a 'liberal.'
Alan Keyes got whalloped everywhere because he's not from Illinois, and Obama is a better politician. But voting records aren't the final authority on the culture of a community.
And yes, I did leave ten years ago to a nearby city. If you want to call me a liar for pointing out what I went through as a kid in "the best city in America to raise children", then whatever. Suffice to say, way too many people are familiar with Linden Oaks than should be.
Naperville has problems on a scale that no other community I've lived in has had. For instance, heroin use has gone through the roof in the past few years. Already two people I've known have died from overdoses, three have been through rehab, and one was clinically dead. None of them are what you would call stereotypical drug users. Domestic violence was a huge problem, until all of a sudden you just stopped hearing about it. Nothing changed, just nobody reported it anymore.
Naperville has the money and the blinders to pretend that they don't exist, but you know as well as I do, that the place has some fucked up shit going on underneath the surface.