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Hacker Club Publishes German Official's Fingerprint

Posted by kdawson on from the sauce-for-the-goose dept.

A number of readers let us know about the Chaos Computer Club's latest caper: they published the fingerprint of German Secretary of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble (link is to a Google translation of the German original). The club has been active in opposition to Germany's increasing push to use biometrics in, for example, e-passports. Someone friendly to the club's aims captured Schäuble's fingerprint from a glass he drank from at a panel discussion. The club published 4,000 copies of their magazine Die Datenschleuder including a plastic foil reproducing the minister's fingerprint — ready to glue to someone else's finger to provide a false biometric reading. The CCC has a page on their site detailing how to make such a fake fingerprint. The article says a ministry spokesman alluded to possible legal action against the club.

6 of 253 comments (clear)

  1. Good for them by Scareduck · · Score: 5, Insightful

    High officials often seem to think the consequences of privacy-invading legislation will only occur to other (read: little) people. It's good to remind people in those positions that they do not have absolute power, and that they need to think about second order consequences.

    --

    Dog is my co-pilot.

  2. Major flaw of biometrics by this+great+guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This event highlights one of the major flaw of biometrics. This official had his fingerprint copied. There is nothing he can do. He can't change it. He can't prevent people from using it. No fingerprint reader will ever be able to determine with 100% certainty whether a particular fingerprint is real or fake. Bottom line: when one of your biometric traits gets stolen, you get screwed. For life.

    I hope this convinces governments that using biometrics for anything is a bad idea (other than perhaps criminal investigations, although what if this german official's fingerprint was found on a murder scene ?).

    1. Re:Major flaw of biometrics by BlackCreek · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The whole point of the parent poster is apparently lost to you.

      The point being that my biometric data is mine. It is private. It is not the government's business to have my blood samples, or DNA, or finger print. I am not a criminal, and therefore I expect to be entitled to some privacy from the BigBrother.

      Once some retarded government bureaucrat decides to leave a laptop inside a taxi or something, my private data is lost, and I can never get a new fingerprint, or iris scan. I can get a new social security number, I can get a new passport, a new bank account number, but I **cannot** get a new DNA.

  3. Re:In future news... by metlin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One can only hope.

    What better way than a senior official to be convicted of crimes as a result of identity theft because officials such as him decided that privacy didn't really matter anymore?

    Personally, I sincerely wish that this happens in all the countries which have fingerprinting in place. Enough already.

  4. Re:Brave defenders of freedom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At least they get off their asses unlike American's who cry about the Constitution but do fuck all about it.

    Bush was right, it is JUST a piece of PAPER. Why? Because American's do NOTHING about it and do not believe in it.

    This is plain to see by their inactions.

  5. Re:couldn't possibly have negative consequences by Belial6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It likely is. In just the same way that sinking the Titanic before any passengers boarded would have been grounds for criminal action.