Slashdot Mirror
Ears Might Be Better Than Fingerprints For ID
An anonymous reader writes "A new study says that outer ear could be better unique identification mark in human beings than finger prints. 'When you're born your ear is fully formed. The lobe descends a little, but overall it stays the same. It's a great way to identify people,' said Mark Nixon, a computer scientist at the University of Southampton and leader of the research. Nixon and his team presented a paper at the IEEE Fourth International Conference on Biometrics and using an algorithm identified people with 99.6 per cent accuracy."
An anonymous reader adds a link to Wired's story on the same conference presentation, which adds this skeptical note: "'I have seen no scientific proof that the ear doesn’t change significantly over time. People tend to believe notions like these, and they are repeated over time,' said Anil Jain, a computer scientist at Michigan State University who was not involved in the study. 'Fingerprinting has a history of 100 years showing that it works, unless you destroy your fingerprints or work in an industry that gives you calluses.'"
Yeah but how often do you leave earprints at the scene of a crime?
So I guess the Ferengi have made first contact with us poor terrans and have begun influencing our culture...
Vincent Van Gogh would beg to differ with you.
Genitalia Biometrics. TSA would be hitting two birds with one stone. Once they make sure there are no bombs around your pecker (or peckette), they match your pecker against a database of peckerheads. Genitalia are not known to change over time (except my wife's), so they would probably need an If IsWife() { RaiseToleranceThreshold(); }; to prevent false positives (but not HIV positives, still need condoms for that).
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
No more earmarks!
It's going to take a really large ink pad to take ear prints.
and Evander Holyfield.
Game: Player 'Donald J Trump' now has AI skill level 'experimental'.