Ready, Aim, ID Check: In Wrong Hands, Gun Won't Fire

[John Kelsey]

>From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
>Sent: Jan 6, 2005 11:47 AM
>To: cryptography at metzdowd.com, cypherpunks at al-qaeda.net
>Subject: Ready, Aim, ID Check: In Wrong Hands, Gun Won't Fire

...
>Ready, Aim, ID Check: In Wrong Hands, Gun Won't Fire
> By ANNE EISENBERG

I just wonder what the false negative rates are.  Seem like a gun that has a 1% chance of refusing to fire when you *really need it* might not be worth all that much.  Similarly, one that you can't get to work if you've got a band-aid on your finger, or a cut on your hand, or whatever, loses a lot of its value.  On the other hand, a gun that can't be made to go off by your toddler is a pretty huge win, assuming you're willing to trust the technology, but a 90% accuracy level sounds to me like 10% of the time, your three year old can, in fact, cause the thing to go off.  That's not worth much, but maybe they'll get it better.   And the "suspect struggles with cop, gets gun, and shoots cop" problem would definitely be helped by a guy that wouldn't go off for 90% of attackers.  

--John