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Motorola Developing Pill and Tattoo Authentication Methods
redletterdave writes "In trying to solve the 'mechanical mismatch' between humans and electronics — particularly wearables — special projects chief Regina Dugan unveiled two new projects currently in development at Google's Motorola Mobility centered on rethinking authentication methodology, including electronic tattoos and ingestible pills. Of the pill, which Dugan called her 'first superpower,' she described it as an 'inside-out potato battery' that when swallowed, the acids in one's stomach serve as the electrolyte to power an 18-bit ECG-like signal that essentially turns one's body into an authentication token. 'It means my arms are like wires and my hands are like alligator clips [so] when I touch my phone, my computer, my door, I'm authenticated,' Dugan said. 'This is not science fiction.'"
Imagine a beowolf cluster of digestible pills.
Didn't we have a problem with this in Europe last century?
So I have to check my poop all the time for my auth token?
Eat it again? Renegotiate?
How do you authenticate yourself without the "inside out potato" - not science fiction maybe, but rather far out research - I like it ! :)
So that I've got 36-bits of this securitybits!
Good news! It's a suppository!
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
So all i need to do to get into your stuff is knock you out and touch you to it?
Seems a bit insecure.
Fail!
And there should be regulation to prevent all corporations, but not government, from surreptitiously reading your "alligator clip" ID because we have been trained, by government, to think of business as the Prime Evil of existance.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
What goes in, must come out. I'm not sure if I'd like to swallow a pill every day for authentication. Besides, it doesn't seem that secure. What's to stop my friend from taking my pills and authenticating as me? The Tattoo idea may be better, but it better be secure. You can't exactly "Patch" a tattoo with a security fix.
Tattoo authentication...I just see Idiocracy.
Because nothing at all could go wrong with changing your body chemistry to turn you into a battery for the purpose of unlocking a phone....
First!
Fail!
Having worked in Motorola research (and later the cellular infrastructure), a long time ago, my first reaction was "Wow, Motorola has finally got some balls!" Then I remembered that it is now Google.
What are they going to use in this proposed battery that won't be toxic? Remember, when a battery provides power, the anode is dissolved into the electrolyte.
I poop information!
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
GOOGLE IS A TOOL OF THE ANTICHRIST!
It's true! I read it in this little pamphlet I found on the subway!!
.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
I see this as a great benefit for proper patient IDing for surgeries. Just a quick scan of the patient to double check the proper one before commencing the procedure. Bonus points for including the correct body part and procedure in the authentication.
Instead of focusing on ergonomics they should simply force the user to wear a cattle ear tag. After all, cattle is what the government and corporate America think we all are.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be-T J
What kind of shitty future did I wake up in where 'unlocking your cellphone' is a "superpower"?
I'd get the tattoo only if it goes on my hand or forehead. Can you hear Jerry Falwell & his type screaming yet?
There may be no "I" in team, but there's also no "F" in way.
Maybe the electronic tattoos can be personalized, allowing a user to project a retro "holocaust concentration camp ID number" type vibe.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be-T J
I guess I won't have to worry about my eyes being plucked out of my skill for retinal identification spoofing after all!
I'm not sure if I'd like to swallow a pill every day for authentication.
Doesn't have to be every day. The pill thing would be most useful for temporary authentication procedures. Issued to authorize someone for a limited time only. I could see some circumstances where the pill thing could be useful. I could see it being used as a second factor id for military, etc. Think similar to a visitor badge but harder to lose.
This is all well and fine, until they herd us all into some kind of processing center and then hook us up like some kind of "D" cell in series to power the mastermind machine...
}#q NO CARRIER
Tattoos are permanent, technology moves on at an incredible pace. This seems like a bad idea.
'It means my arms are like wires and my hands are like alligator clips [so] when I touch my phone, my computer, my door, I'm authenticated,'
So, whenever you hold a metal hand rail walking down stairs, someone just needs to hook up a sensor to it to grab your authentication signal and relay it to your "secure" devices? This doesn't seem like a particularly more secure biometric than the "old fashioned" iris or fingerprint scans; anyone else can intercept your authentication signal any time you touch any object which they can insert sensors into.
Would this require surgery?
not in prison if they want to have some thing like this.
'It means my arms are like wires and my hands are like alligator clips [so] when I touch my phone, my computer, my door, I'm authenticated,' Dugan said. 'This is not science fiction.'
"I assume your handprint will open this door whether you are conscious or not." - Commander Data, Star Trek TNG episode "A Matter of Time"
Having some form of ID in prison is already not voluntary. That is sort of the point.
interesting.. wonder how hacking a human is gonna be like? can somebody be turned into a cyber terrorist, simply because his signal was hacked and used for illegal activities? then you become a human beacon.. does that make sense?
... in the world of silly "password security" rules such as having to change your password every 30 days.
At this point, God, Santa, and the Easter Bunny use google.
Would they use e-ink for the tattoo ?
So you can't just cut off the person's finger to activate some lock somewhere, like you can with fingerprint ID. But it seems to me that you can easily make a device that copies the ID just by touching it to their skin. Unless it has challenge/authentication, of course. If so, then you need to physically kidnap the person.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Brings a whole new meaning to the man in the middle attack.
As a security precaution, I generally use an account with limited access most of the time and only use accounts with elevated access for specific actions. If our authentication is based on a tattoo or pill, how feasible is it to indicate which account we want to use this session?
My body is my passport. Verify me.
This BULSHIT. I just wonder, if your pill is compromised, what are you supposed to do to shut it down!!!
This idea is terrible. It is even worse than RFID credit cards. Since it has active electronics, I assume this is able to do challenge/response authentication, which is good. But how do you disable it? Somebody just "bumps" into you with a scanner and pays their dinner bill with your gut. At least RFID-chipped cards can be stored in a conductive pouch to prevent walk-by theft.
Whatever shape these new authentication methods take, they need to be at minimum:
(1) Challenge/Response based, and
(2) Momentary ON
Requirement 1 kills most biometrics systems. And Requirement 2 kills most implant/ingested systems.
...Because I'm a potato!
First Fail, Fail!
I just wonder *how* they intend to *keep* it in the stomach.. Many people know instictively that items that enter the stomach pretty much *leave* the stomach in a fairly short period of time.. Unless they intend this to be a temporary authentication, and make you keep eating these "pills", to keep the effect working, they have a *bit* more work to do, in my opinion... VERY cool idea tho...
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
As an added bonus, It might be an effective weight loss product too if the pill obstructs your gastro-intestinal track. All jokes aside, this pill could have positive implications in addition to authentication.
Brings a new meaning to "Logging out"
If so, then you need to physically kidnap the person.
Or steal their pills...
What happened to those? And what about DNA you exhale?
We have a lot of things going on automatically naturally that we dont have to swallow a glorified rfid tablet.
welcome our new Beast overlords. Anticipating the full revelation of the Bible and the Antichrist's benefaction whereby I cannot buy or sell without a 'mark' on me, I wait with baited breath for my marching orders once so owned.
Really? No one else thinks this is even a little scarey?
It's only a matter of time before we get wristwatch tattoos
Too obvious.
I haven't seen anyone else point this out, but it seems an obvious problem: all you would have to do to defeat this is to steal one of their pills.
because pill bottles NEVER get stolen
Plan for future ID theft: ...
Step one: Buy a sharp knife.