From: Vin McLellan <vin@shore.net>
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 03:39:15 +0800
To: Jonathan Wienke <JonWienk@ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: Big Brother Is Watching ATMs
Message-ID: <v0300782bb0a8b6b48bbf@[198.115.179.81]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



	<sigh> My apologies to Jonathan, the boyos in the Hills, and those
watching for the Choppers.  I wrote:

|>	Could you please identify this "bank card company" by name, card,
nation, |>etc. ?

	The vendor, Sensar, Inc. <http://www.sensar.com> is planning to
unveil the system at the Banking Administration Institute's conference in
New Orleans the day after tomorrow.   The company's version of the product
and its expected use is a little less conspiratorial than Jonathan's post
to C'punks -- but it more than suffices to force me to eat crow for my
scepticism and unwarranted sarcasm.

>>	IrisIdent is a biometric identification system that uses the unique
>>    patterns of the human iris to verify an individual's identity. Using a
>>    standard video camera, the system takes a picture of an individual's iris
>>    and compares it with a previously stored iris image. The result is a
>>rapid
>>    validation of the individual's identity. With an empirically determined
>>    crossover error rate of less than 1 error in 131,578 transactions, iris
>>    identification is more reliable and less intrusive than fingerprinting or
>>    retinal scanning. Its security cannot be bypassed or compromised.

>>    Pilot systems are available on a limited basis, with full production
>>    scheduled for later in 1997. In addition, Sensar is planning to launch
>>    follow-on applications for a wide range of financial applications,
>>such as
>>    new account openings, bank wire transfers and government services.
>>    Smart Camera is a future offering from Sensar. It will combine the same
>>    technology with a stand-alone (non-PC-based) camera to verify
>>    customer identification at point-of-sale locations, business
>>workstations,
>>    and home computers.

|>	Without some explicit cite of a commercial entity -- or a reference
to some |>"strip-'em-naked-with-electrons" Police R&D group like the guys
at Rome AFB -- this |>report sounds like another of those ID-Implant
fantasies circulated by the guys who |>are bolting steel plate to their
screen doors and programming their backyard AA to |>auto-target (a) Black
Helicopters (b) which are on low-level rapid approach (c) full |>Oriental,
Arab, and Hispanic troopers (c) wearing Blue Helmets.

	The CNN news report (only a little less worrisome than Jonathan's
post) is at: http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9711/30/eyeball.id.ap/index.html

|>	Or, with further checking, could you confirm that is this just
another spicy
|> rumor crafted to keep the boyos in the hills rubbing garlic into their
hollow-points
|> with proper militia enthusiasm?  (Not that I don't enjoy a good tale to
wake up
|> sleepy Computer Science undergrads, mind you...)

|>	Up the Revolution,

|>		              _Vin

	Jonathan Wienke <JonWienk@ix.netcom.com> warned us all:

>I just heard that a bank card company has just released a program for using
>photos of the iris in people's eyes as a biometric ID to replace people's
>PIN codes for ATM / credit cards.  What I found really interesting is how
>they plan to implement it.  As people use the ATM, they are photographed.
>(Every ATM has a security camera.)  Over time, as people use the ATM, the
>security camera images are composited to produce a high-quality image of
>their irises, which is coded and placed in their account information.  Once
>this is accomplished, when a card is inserted into the ATM and the security
>camera gets an iris image that matches the account sufficiently closely,
>the user can conduct transactions without entering the PIN code.  People
>affected by this will merely receive a letter that under certain
>circumstances, entering the PIN is no longer necessary, but this is not a
>security problem.
>
>This scenario may not be a security problem, but it certainly poses a
>privacy problem.  Given the frequency that the average Joe Sixpack uses the
>ATM, it is only a matter of time before the government mandates a
>nationwide eyeprint ID database to catch ATM and credit card theives, money
>launderers, tax cheats, and other undesirables.  Perhaps the eyeprint could
>even replace or supplement the SSN as the unique taxpayer ID key for tax
>and other purposes.  Of course, given the fact that ATMs have had cameras
>from the start, this theoretical eyeprint database could already be under
>construction.  How's that for paranoia?  >:-(
>
>Of course, there are a few ways to beat this, such as mirror sunglasses,
>(which would only be useful while alternative credentials to eyeprint ID
>are still available) and contact lenses, (which would have to be carefully
>oriented so that the same side of the lens was always up, or the fact that
>you are wearing contacts and are therefore a Suspicious Person(tm) would
>become obvious to the system) and of course intraocular implants of various
>types.  Of course if the implant's power-on LED gives your eyes a constant
>Satanic red glow, you may be flagged as a Suspicious Person(tm) anyway.
>
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      Vin McLellan + The Privacy Guild + <vin@shore.net>
  53 Nichols St., Chelsea, MA 02150 USA <617> 884-5548
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