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Pentagon-Funded Project Will 'Solve' Cellphone Identity Verification Within Two Years (nextgov.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader Zorro quotes Nextgov:
The Defense Department is funding a project that officials say could revolutionize the way companies, federal agencies and the military itself verify that people are who they say they are and it could be available in most commercial smartphones within two years. The technology, which will be embedded in smartphones' hardware, will analyze a variety of identifiers that are unique to an individual, such as the hand pressure and wrist tension when the person holds a smartphone and the person's peculiar gait while walking, said Steve Wallace, technical director at the Defense Information Systems Agency.
Organizations that use the tool can combine those identifiers to give the phone holder a "risk score," Wallace said. If the risk score is low enough, the organization can presume the person is who she says she is and grant her access to sensitive files on the phone or on a connected computer or grant her access to a secure facility. If the score's too high, she'll be locked out... Another identifier that will likely be built into the chips is a GPS tracker that will store encrypted information about a person's movements, Wallace said. The verification tool would analyze historical information about a person's locations and major, recent anomalies would raise the person's risk score.
A technical director at the agency "declined to say which smartphone and chipmakers planned to participate in the project, but said the capability will be available 'in the vast majority of mobile devices.'"
Organizations that use the tool can combine those identifiers to give the phone holder a "risk score," Wallace said. If the risk score is low enough, the organization can presume the person is who she says she is and grant her access to sensitive files on the phone or on a connected computer or grant her access to a secure facility. If the score's too high, she'll be locked out... Another identifier that will likely be built into the chips is a GPS tracker that will store encrypted information about a person's movements, Wallace said. The verification tool would analyze historical information about a person's locations and major, recent anomalies would raise the person's risk score.
A technical director at the agency "declined to say which smartphone and chipmakers planned to participate in the project, but said the capability will be available 'in the vast majority of mobile devices.'"
Just admit that with enough pieces of information it's all "personally identifying".
Inheritance is the sincerest form of nepotism.
Eventually it will come down to Google being forced to demand that these features are in phones, in order to license the Android mark and access to Google Play.
In the extension this means Qualcomm and other American manufacturers will get to take in heavy licensing fees, because it will all be patented.
It's a drive to both sell more American products and collect more information on people at the same time.
One scary aspect of this is that the data will obviously be collectable to U.S. government and manufacturers. Three-letter agencies could literally replay the signals and have a water-proof case against anyone, by claiming the data shows that "they were there".
... will be available in the vast majority of mobile devices
... will be mandated for every phone sold in North America
Eventually, owning and carrying a smartphone will be compulsory - it will serve as your government ID and will sub for driver's licence, passport, Social Insurance / Social Security card, health card, etc. There will be no rooting, no disabling of location services, no turning off mobile data and WiFi. 'Airplane Mode' will be turned off and on automatically - there will be a separate always-on low-power RF transceiver specifically for that purpose. If you are allowed to turn your phone off, it won't be fully off - it will be recording audio all the time. Letting your battery die without a damned good excuse will be a criminal offence. As will putting your phone in a Faraday cage.
Part of me kinda thinks I'm just trolling here - but the bigger part is afraid that much of what I've outlined above may really come to pass. After all, if I could go back to 1980 and tell my then-self what happens in the world after 2000, that earlier self would be totally incredulous.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
911 emergency, how can we help you?
*shaking* I've been in a car accident and am pretty badly hurt, can you send help?
Sir, I'm not sure who you are but placing a false call to 911 is a crime *click*
Hello? Hello?
This isn't about paying for lunch, it's about eliminating burner phones. Once all phones are legally required to have this, they can ensure nobody has anonimity.