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Iris Scans Are the New School IDs
An anonymous reader writes "Winthrop University in South Carolina is testing out iris scanning technology during freshman orientation this summer. Students had their eyes scanned as they received their ID cards in June. 'Iris scanning has a very high level of accuracy, and you don't have to touch anything, said James Hammond, head of Winthrop University's Information Technology department. 'It can be hands free security.'" I wouldn't want to be locked out a building because of a scratched lens or a system outage, though.
from being locked out due to a broken/lost/defective key/card/etc in any other building access system...?????
The reader will beep if they're on the right bus and honk if they're on the wrong one.
Or you could teach them to read the numbers on the side of the bus, but that's just my zany, wacky idea. Or are the kids too stupid to get on the exact same numbered bus day after day?
We are conditioning them to live in a police state.
Sure. Those have problems too. But why would you pay for a new (read: more expensive) version of a system that will have those same problems, plus new as yet undiscovered ones? Unless, of course, it has more to do with the business and office politics of the thing (the former being a salesperson willing to promise you a solution to a problem you didn't know you had; the latter being an administrator who will subsequently seek a promotion based on how effectively he increased campus security [theater]).
It is if you take sandpaper to the sensor on the device itself periodically.
My eyes are very sensitive to bright light. Every year, when I get my eyes examined, I have to have them dilated so that the inside of the eye can be properly examined. This procedure is so painful that the ophthalmologist has to hold my eyelid open because no matter how hard I try I can't keep it open otherwise. I've offered to do i, but she always prefers to take care of it herself. And, from what she's said, this isn't exactly uncommon. I can just imagine what's going to happen the first time a student finds out that they can't keep their eye open long enough for the scan and can't get into class without it.
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This brings up an interesting point: think of the accessibility issues this raises. You can reach a card reader from a wheel chair. Will everyone have to bend down to wheel chair height to use the scanner or will those in wheel chairs be asked to stand?
I'd prefer it over fingerprint scanners as it is much less usable for mass surveillance. You don't leave it all over the place like DNA or finger prints and at least for the moment the technology doesn't exist for setting up mass scanners for public areas (think "Minority Report"). That said it has the same deficiency as all biometric systems, if your "password" gets stolen you can't change it. And don't think that "you can't fake iris scans", they have said that about every biometric security system invented and within 5 years after it becomes widely used someone is parading around a method of beating it, sometimes in hilariously easy ways.
So when someone steals credentials, how do you change your "password"?
You can share ID cards, but how do you share eyes between people?
Biometrics are good for surveillance but not for authentication. A good authentication method supports revocation of an identification key, such as would be needed in the event of its compromise. It should not be trusted as a factor in authentication either, for the same reason. Great for theater though I suppose. Article about it here growingliberty.com/thumbs-down-for-fingerprint-identification
Well, borrowing is easy, it's returning the eyes that is difficult.
What exactly is the security issue that's significant enough to warrant such extreme and invasive measures? Is it such a prestigious institution that there are hoards of non-registered kids trying to sneak in? Is there a problem with rampant crime or extremely bad behaviour? What possible real reason could they have, other than, "hey, we got funding for this fancy new tech!" or conditioning them to the future of a police state?
We train our kids for more than a decade in a school system that is the opposite of the kind of society we want: it's a draconian, nearly totalitarian system that promotes belief in centralized authority and subjugation to expert opinion. And now, in addition to that, it trains kids to accept intrusive around the clock tracking and biometric identification. This does not bode well for the next generations of Americans.
nice going, those jerks will have spawn but you won't, so you've contributed to the decline of the species.
Another good article that makes the same point by Bruce Schneier himself. Biometrics: uses and abuses.
Contact lenses are pretty transparent.
I wonder when it will all unravel..
Why is everyone discussion the actual method, and not mentioning why the hell any sort of security system is needed in the first place?
Ok, maybe i'm going to sound like an old fart here, but when i was a kid school doors were only locked overnight. Otherwise it was open access. Not sure how it is in the UK these days, maybe they are also becoming scaredy cats like the 'muricans. I'm now in Russia and our kids' nursery didn't lock the doors either, they go to private school now, and while the door isn't locked we do have a security guard at the entrance, but i'm pretty sure that is more to stop people coming in and nicking stuff rather than protection of/from the children.
Why do i think this is only about control and security theatre? Making sure he kids actually attend? Hell, when i was at school it was normal to occasionally skive off school but the class register would show your absence anyway. If kids are not attending then its time to have a word with the parents.
Have ever watched "Demolition Man"?
When you can't lend a guest your ID card to run down to x and grab y, or run back to your room to grab z, all it does is encourage door propping. My college allowed access to neighboring residence halls during daytime hours precisely because of this (if access is granted legitimately less people will bother propping doors). Trying things like door alarms when they're held open too long simply results in more creative and difficult to fix door props (like crazy-gluing cardboard over the door latch, or welding a penny over it).
I once worked with someone in an ID card center who would almost never deny anyone card access to additional buildings. The reason? They're going to find a way into the building anyway, and if it was via a card it will at least be logged (and even if it was a borrowed card, it at least points to a person as a starting point if an investigation is needed).