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Iris Scans Are the New School IDs

Posted by timothy on from the sir-your-frog-is-boiling-even-as-we-speak dept.

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.

6 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. How would that be different... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    from being locked out due to a broken/lost/defective key/card/etc in any other building access system...?????

  2. What are we doing to our children? by Presto+Vivace · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We are conditioning them to live in a police state.

  3. Re:School full of stupid kids? by khallow · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or you could teach them to read the numbers on the side of the bus

    if these were regular kids, you'd have a point. But these are college students. It's not fair to expect people like that to master such sophisticated mental tasks.

  4. Not an easy process for some people by techno-vampire · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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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  5. Again, biometrics are not good for authentication. by LeifOfLiberty · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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

  6. Re: lol wut? by publiclurker · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, borrowing is easy, it's returning the eyes that is difficult.