Post by jaydeehess on May 7, 2006 23:59:13 GMT -4
A new CT!
(made this one up myself for an April Fool's prank)
New biometric identification is on the way for ATM machines but there is a dark side to it.
Retinal scan equipment is about to come on the market that will do away with you having to remember a PIN code to access your account at a bank ATM. All you will have to do is look into an eyepiece that will scan your retina and compare it with the one on file.
So what's the dark side of this? Seems that one researcher found that odd bits of DNA code were also able to be gleaned from these scans. Depending on the orientation of one particular type of cell on the retina and the angle at which the scan light hits it, it ispossible to read small parts of a DNA molecule. One scan reveals very little, the bit of DNA that is read is essentially random, but after about 100 scans enough info can be put together to form some information about the person being scanned. In tests of this system and the computer program that basically puts this jigsaw puzzle to gether, it was found that it could accuratly predict one or two physical traits such as eye color and in one individual correctly reported that the person had cystic fibrosis.
There is no imediate plan to utlize this system, so far the banks do not want to deal with the invasion of privacy concerns and at the present rate it would take 25 years of scans to get a complete DNA reading of any one person. If the system can be improved though such data would be valuable to health care insurance companies and prospective employers.
(made this one up myself for an April Fool's prank)
New biometric identification is on the way for ATM machines but there is a dark side to it.
Retinal scan equipment is about to come on the market that will do away with you having to remember a PIN code to access your account at a bank ATM. All you will have to do is look into an eyepiece that will scan your retina and compare it with the one on file.
So what's the dark side of this? Seems that one researcher found that odd bits of DNA code were also able to be gleaned from these scans. Depending on the orientation of one particular type of cell on the retina and the angle at which the scan light hits it, it ispossible to read small parts of a DNA molecule. One scan reveals very little, the bit of DNA that is read is essentially random, but after about 100 scans enough info can be put together to form some information about the person being scanned. In tests of this system and the computer program that basically puts this jigsaw puzzle to gether, it was found that it could accuratly predict one or two physical traits such as eye color and in one individual correctly reported that the person had cystic fibrosis.
There is no imediate plan to utlize this system, so far the banks do not want to deal with the invasion of privacy concerns and at the present rate it would take 25 years of scans to get a complete DNA reading of any one person. If the system can be improved though such data would be valuable to health care insurance companies and prospective employers.