Knee X-ray biometrics plan to fight spoofing US federal eggheads have proposed a novel method of preventing biometric ID systems being spoofed by the use of such things as contact lenses, fake fingerprints etc. Instead of easily-fooled systems of this sort, people should instead be identified using X-ray photographs of their knees. Lior Shamir of the US National …
What happens if you dislocate or otherwise damage your knee in an accident or suffer from arthritis or osteoporosis which is common in the elderly? Presumably it wouldn't be too effective in those whose bones are still growing either, leaving an effective age range of maybe only 25-50?
When will folk realise that biometrics have their inherent problems - peoples bodies are not a constant - and just give up?
I have had knee surgery which radically corrected a problem, and my knees before and after look very different on the X-ray. A quick spot of scalpel-work adding temporary lumps and bumps would be well worth it for terrorists and drug barons. It could even be done key-hole.
I'd also like to see hands-up of all chaps who don't mind a blast of X-rays near the family jewels every time they are off to Marbella.
I have a great idea, why dont we implant a metal serial code into every human, then just zap 'em with x rays to see who they are. Brilliant and only slightly more orwellian than this ridiculous idea!
Regular travellers will have cancerous knees in no time, and i dont like the thought of xrays that near the "frank and beans".
Hey we have a great way to proove your identity and the only downside that it will eventually cause cancer!!! YAY!!!!
Oh and don't dare break your leg in an accident or you'll become a non person*
Please feel free to point out if either comment is inaccurate for any reason =p
* whilst maybe Knees are harder to spoof than finger prints it's much harder to change your real prints than it would be to accidently change your knees by say, getting hit by a car :)
Firstly, if (like Wacky Jacky) you are hoping to track tiny groups within a population of several tens of millions, you need an accuracy several *orders of magnitude* better than any known biometric, to avoid being flooded with false positives.
Secondly, revoking a biometric is Hard (tm), requiring anything from surgery to reincarnation.
Thirdly, most biometrics actually change over time, so as far as any identity database is concerned we are all constantly morphing into other people.
Imaging trying to secure a computer system where the number of possible passwords was less than the number of users, where users aren't allowed to change their passwords, but where a background process on the system *does* make small changes (without telling the users).
IT'S A TOTALLY CRAP IDEA, YOU IDIOTS. STOP IT AT ONCE!!
Everyone's complaining so much that there is zero way to come up with a system that will satisfy everyone, and if it doesn't satisfy everyone, those it doesn't will yell so loud that it'll be removed just to shut them up. Fingerprints can be covered, irises can be covered, bones can be damaged, blood is not fine enough, and even DNA can't distinguish identical twins. And not even profiling will be 100% effective--it won't stop DOMESTIC terrorists like US's Timothy McVeigh. Should we just throw up the white flag at this point?
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