Re: (Fwd) British Study Claims That Photo Credit Cards Don't Work

> > Some thoughts... (er, questions):
> > 1. What are the implications for log-on systems that rely on 
> > recognition of faces (supposedly impossible for hackers to describe 
> > and exploit)?

At 11:19 AM 4/8/96 -0700, David Loysen wrote:
> Does anybody know how well these systems work? 

Yes:  They don't work.

> If I don't shave over the
> weekend will my computer know who I am Monday morning?

Shaving probably will not be a problem, but holding your head at a slightly
different angle, or having slightly different lighting, or combing your
hair differently will screw up the system totally, unless the system has 
radically improved since the last time  I read up on it.
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Sten Drescher wrote:
> MM> There are supposedly some new techniques that look at the infrared
> MM> signature of your face 
> 
>         So if I'm running a fever, or just been exercising, it
> wouldn't recognize me, right?  Doesn't sound like that would be much
> better.

But it could be that it looks for patterns of where the hot & cold zones
are, and since exercise doesn't rearrange the concentrations of blood
vessels beneath your skin, the matching might still be possible.

______c_____________________________________________________________________
Mike M Nally * Tiv^H^H^H IBM * Austin TX    * pain is inevitable  
       m5@tivoli.com * m101@io.com          *
      <URL:http://www.io.com/~m101>         * suffering is optional

jamesd@echeque.com wrote:
> > If I don't shave over the
> > weekend will my computer know who I am Monday morning?
> 
> Shaving probably will not be a problem, but holding your head at a slightly
> different angle, or having slightly different lighting, or combing your
> hair differently will screw up the system totally, unless the system has
> radically improved since the last time  I read up on it.

There are supposedly some new techniques that look at the infrared 
signature of your face (like, I guess, distribution & position of 
hot & cold spots), and that's less likely to be fooled by facial 
hair and other superficial disguises.  It's probably a fairly simple
technology, and could be applied to the credit card ID problem.

Note that the mag strip encoding, which is clearly not very secure, 
could be replaced by one of the newer optical coding systems.  Those
would probably be somewhat harder to fake (you'd need to manufacture
cards, and probably couldn't simple "re-record" over a stolen one.)

An interesting question, to me, is what is the actual pattern of criminal
activity involving stolen/fake credit cards?  Is it a matter of huge
criminal syndicates creating fake cards, or is it mostly crimes of
opportunity where stolen cards are boldly presented by the thief (or
by someone the thief sold the card to)?

______c_____________________________________________________________________
Mike M Nally * Tiv^H^H^H IBM * Austin TX    * pain is inevitable  
       m5@tivoli.com * m101@io.com          *
      <URL:http://www.io.com/~m101>         * suffering is optional

>>>>> Mike McNally writes:

MM> jamesd@echeque.com wrote:
>> > If I don't shave over the > weekend will my computer know who I
>> am Monday morning?
>> 
>> Shaving probably will not be a problem, but holding your head at a
>> slightly different angle, or having slightly different lighting, or
>> combing your hair differently will screw up the system totally,
>> unless the system has radically improved since the last time I read
>> up on it.

MM> There are supposedly some new techniques that look at the infrared
MM> signature of your face (like, I guess, distribution & position of
MM> hot & cold spots), and that's less likely to be fooled by facial
MM> hair and other superficial disguises.  It's probably a fairly
MM> simple technology, and could be applied to the credit card ID
MM> problem.

	So if I'm running a fever, or just been exercising, it
wouldn't recognize me, right?  Doesn't sound like that would be much
better.

-- 
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ObCDABait:      For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the
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