[10242] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: I-P: WHY I LOVE BIOMETRICS BY DOROTHY E. DENNING
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Peter Fairbrother)
Wed Jan 23 13:54:02 2002
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 17:59:15 +0000
From: Peter Fairbrother <peter.fairbrother@ntlworld.com>
To: Bill Frantz <frantz@pwpconsult.com>,
"R. A. Hettinga" <rahettinga@earthlink.net>,
<cryptography@wasabisystems.com>
Message-ID: <B874AA73.12CEF%peter.fairbrother@ntlworld.com>
In-Reply-To: <v03110704b87373d8bdab@[165.247.202.187]>
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R. A. Hettinga quoted Dorothy Denning:
>> What makes biometrics successful is not secrecy, but rather the
>> ability to determine "liveness." ..
[..]
>> For instance, the Sensar iris-recognition system from Iridian
>> Technologies (www.iridiantech.com) looks for the "hippus
>> movement"-the constant shifting and pulse that takes place in the
>> eye.
A thin contact lens with a fake iris would have "hippus movement",
n'est-ce-pas? At least, it would "shift" like an ordinary eye. Is the
"pulse" perhaps a waxing and waning? Even then, if you were prepared to be
really gross, you could surgically stick a flexible fake iris over a real
one (under the cornea), or transplant an iris or even an eye temporarily and
connect the blood vessels etc... Whose liveness are we determining?
Their other argument is that a contact lens wouldn't work as an imposter
because it shifts around every time you blink - so don't blink for a few
seconds, that's all the time it takes to gain access. Or move your head when
you blink so the camera looses track. Or use superglue... Besides, large
well-fitted contact lenses hardly move at all.
I googled "hippus movement", and only got 3 hits, all (rehashed) Iridian
press, including the above-mentioned from Dorothy Denning who should know
better.
Also, from The British Journal of Opthalmology:
"Search Criteria: Anywhere in Article: "hippus movement" In Journals: Br. J.
Ophthalmol.
Your search retrieved zero articles." (from 1965 to 2001).
Spin? Snake oil?
-- Peter Fairbrother
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