Slashdot Mirror


3D Fingerprinting — Touchless, More Accurate, and Faster

kkleiner writes "For all the glory it gets, the fingerprint has evolved very little in the last 60 years. They’re still two dimensional. The US Department of Homeland Security and the National Institute of Justice are hoping to change that. They've given grants to dozens of companies to perfect touchless 3D fingerprinting. Two universities (University of Kentucky and Carnegie Mellon) and their two respective start-up companies (Flashscan 3D and TBS Holdings) have succeeded. Fingerprints have reached the third dimension and they are faster, more accurate, and touchless."

7 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Anti-fingerprinting technology by bertoelcon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ever since Men in black, I have been waiting for the shiny fingerprint removing sphere.

    You can burn your fingerprints off on a flat heated surface, not that I tested it or anything. At least not on my hands...

    --
    Anything can be found funny, from a certain point of view.
  2. Re:Cost by WaywardGeek · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Every optical mouse has both a light source and a digital camera, yet they cost $20. A 3-D fingerprint scanner requires probably one extra camera. If they build 100 per year, they'll cost thousands of dollars. If they build a million, they'll be under $100.

    I started a company doing EDA and ASIC IP, but at the time, my favorite second alternative (back in 1999), was building a 3-D scanner out of 2 digital cameras and some software. I wanted to scan women so they could load a fairly accurate body shape onto an online avatar, and preview how clothing would look on them. Now, for best results, the ladies would need to spin naked in front of the device. I was really looking forward to debugging that technology :-)

    --
    Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
  3. False Negatives by delta419 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Great, so all I have to do is soak my fingers in water for awhile.

  4. Re:Not that useful for forensics? by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Right, but the software won't flatten the print quite the way pressing the finger against an object would.

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  5. Re:Anti-fingerprinting technology by Thinboy00 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ever since Men in black, I have been waiting for the shiny fingerprint removing sphere.

    You can burn your fingerprints off on a flat heated surface, not that I tested it or anything. At least not on my hands...

    Your original fingerprints will (eventually) grow back/be detectable.

    --
    $ make available
  6. Re:Fingerprinting has never been scientifically va by ceoyoyo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Interesting. Validating fingerprinting would be pretty trivial, given access to a large database of fingerprints.

  7. Re:Anti-fingerprinting technology by uncqual · · Score: 2, Interesting

    you can just repeat the process every few months - new scars, new pattern.

    (ProTip: alternate left and right hands when rebranding - it's much easier to go about your daily life with only one hand being disabled at once - just after committing really bad crimes, might need to do both at the same time though.)

    --
    Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading /.