This week I read about a new biometric scanner created by
Yahoo Labs called Bodyprint. The scanner would allow a person to unlock their
smartphone using their ear print, fist, phalanges, palm, or fingers instead of a
single fingerprint. The reason that there are so many different body parts that
can be used is because the scanning device is bigger than a fingerprint
scanner. Yahoo Labs is taking the capacitive touchscreen of a smartphone and
turning it into a biometric scanner that has a 99.52% accuracy rate while it
has a false rejection rate of 26.82%. Even though a capacitive touchscreen
cannot capture every single line on a fingerprint, it can detect large prints
such as the ear or fist. Bodyprint analyzes touch patterns on the screen as
opposed to 2D location mapping like the ones used to track gestures on
smartphones now. Bodyprint can even be used by multiple people on one device.
The video in the link below shows a device calling for the authentication of
two users to gain access to a document. Bodyprint is still in the early testing
phases but hopefully this will one day be widely used as a better biometric
authentication source.
I like the accuracy rate while it still has a relatively low false rejection rate. At some point in the future I think everything will have some form of biometric authentication because of how easy it is to commit identity theft now. All you really need is a first and last name, address, last four of SSN, and sometimes a phone number. Biometrics is the future of safer transactions in my opinion.
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