I can only see this going into a very dystopian path. Based on their actions, I don’t trust these companies, their security practices, nor their privacy policies. Why would I give them my biometrics? And my full palm, at that!? Hell no!

  • frustbox@lemmy.ml
    62·
    1 year ago

    One scar away from losing access to your ability to pay …

    Biometrics can not really be changed. Except maybe through time or trauma (i.e. age or injury). They can be used to uniquely(?) identify a person - except maybe twins - at the expense of anonymity, which has it’s own set of problems.

    But because they can not easily be changed they’re a terrible security feature. Once they leak, they’re unusable and you’re hosed. You can’t issue a new palm print for your bank account like you could a new chip card and password.

    Also, just because you waved your hand over a scanner does not mean that you approve and consent of the transaction. With tap to pay there were ideas of mobile point of sales devices just tapping on peoples backpacks in a crowded area. You don’t even keep your biometrics markers in your pocket, they’re just out in the open for anyone with a camera. This may be bordering on paranoia, but a few years back (2014) German hackers from Chaos Computer Club took iris scans from Angela Merkel (then Chancellor of Germany) and finger prints of Ursula von der Leyen (then Minister of defense) using nothing but press fotos. Cameras have only gotten better.

    TL;DR: Biometrics can be used for identification but should never be used for authorisation.

    • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
      10·
      1 year ago

      Biometrics also aren’t great and uniqueness. At least where computers are concerned.

      Recently we had one of our customers install fingerprint readers on their points of sale, the idea being any staff member can log in just by touching the pad. Even with only a few hundred staff registered, you get people logging in as each other.

      • AWistfulNihilist@lemmy.world
        2·
        1 year ago

        I worked with Kronos, had their top tier biometrics in a 1,000+ employee company.

        1. The data is only as good as the person loading the data.

        2. Some people don’t have good fingerprints.

        It was bad enough that of you had a person with a bad fingerprint, Kronos would just take ANY input. It would even tell you if a persons fingerprint wasn’t good enough. It happened fucking constantly.

        So either it’s so good you can’t escape it, it is so bad you can’t use it to identify anyone uniquely. It’s literally either a threat or an inconvenience.