Todd Knarr

San Diego, CA

Computer programmer

There's one problem with biometrics. Well, actually two. First is the issue of writing them down. Yes, writing down biometrics. Take your fingerprints. Every time you touch something, you leave a copy of your fingerprints on it. Those can easily be lifted, police do it all the time during investigations. And the most common fingerprint readers have been fooled 75+% of the time using materials available at the average supermarket. How is this situation any different from writing my password on a PostIt note and sticking it, not just on my monitor, but on every wall of every building in town? Second, how do you change biometrics if compromised? Suppose someone lifts my fingerprint from a glass at the restaurant I ate dinner at, makes a copy they can glue over their own fingerprint and starts impersonating me. How do I change my fingerprint now that it's no longer proof that I'm me?