Re: (Fwd) British Study Claims That Photo Credit Cards Don't Work
Some thoughts... (er, questions): 1. What are the implications for log-on systems that rely on recognition of faces (supposedly impossible for hackers to describe and exploit)?
At 11:19 AM 4/8/96 -0700, David Loysen wrote:
Does anybody know how well these systems work?
Yes: They don't work.
If I don't shave over the weekend will my computer know who I am Monday morning?
Shaving probably will not be a problem, but holding your head at a slightly different angle, or having slightly different lighting, or combing your hair differently will screw up the system totally, unless the system has radically improved since the last time I read up on it. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd@echeque.com
jamesd@echeque.com wrote:
If I don't shave over the weekend will my computer know who I am Monday morning?
Shaving probably will not be a problem, but holding your head at a slightly different angle, or having slightly different lighting, or combing your hair differently will screw up the system totally, unless the system has radically improved since the last time I read up on it.
There are supposedly some new techniques that look at the infrared signature of your face (like, I guess, distribution & position of hot & cold spots), and that's less likely to be fooled by facial hair and other superficial disguises. It's probably a fairly simple technology, and could be applied to the credit card ID problem. Note that the mag strip encoding, which is clearly not very secure, could be replaced by one of the newer optical coding systems. Those would probably be somewhat harder to fake (you'd need to manufacture cards, and probably couldn't simple "re-record" over a stolen one.) An interesting question, to me, is what is the actual pattern of criminal activity involving stolen/fake credit cards? Is it a matter of huge criminal syndicates creating fake cards, or is it mostly crimes of opportunity where stolen cards are boldly presented by the thief (or by someone the thief sold the card to)? ______c_____________________________________________________________________ Mike M Nally * Tiv^H^H^H IBM * Austin TX * pain is inevitable m5@tivoli.com * m101@io.com * <URL:http://www.io.com/~m101> * suffering is optional
Mike McNally writes:
MM> jamesd@echeque.com wrote:
If I don't shave over the > weekend will my computer know who I am Monday morning?
Shaving probably will not be a problem, but holding your head at a slightly different angle, or having slightly different lighting, or combing your hair differently will screw up the system totally, unless the system has radically improved since the last time I read up on it.
MM> There are supposedly some new techniques that look at the infrared MM> signature of your face (like, I guess, distribution & position of MM> hot & cold spots), and that's less likely to be fooled by facial MM> hair and other superficial disguises. It's probably a fairly MM> simple technology, and could be applied to the credit card ID MM> problem. So if I'm running a fever, or just been exercising, it wouldn't recognize me, right? Doesn't sound like that would be much better. -- #include <disclaimer.h> /* Sten Drescher */ ObCDABait: For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. [Eze 23:20] Unsolicited email advertisements will be proofread for a US$100/page fee.
Sten Drescher wrote:
MM> There are supposedly some new techniques that look at the infrared MM> signature of your face
So if I'm running a fever, or just been exercising, it wouldn't recognize me, right? Doesn't sound like that would be much better.
But it could be that it looks for patterns of where the hot & cold zones are, and since exercise doesn't rearrange the concentrations of blood vessels beneath your skin, the matching might still be possible. ______c_____________________________________________________________________ Mike M Nally * Tiv^H^H^H IBM * Austin TX * pain is inevitable m5@tivoli.com * m101@io.com * <URL:http://www.io.com/~m101> * suffering is optional
participants (3)
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jamesd＠echeque.com -
Mike McNally -
Sten Drescher