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Has anyone thought of altering their fingerprints?
With Amazon announcing recently that they will be paying people USD $10 to give them their biometric data, specifically palm prints, and presumably they will hold onto them forever, I've been on a binge lately of looking into ways to alter said data DIY biohack style.
I was wondering if anyone else has gone down this rabbit hole of looking into the various methods people use to alter their prints, and can comment on the feasibility of these methods.
Just to clarify, I live in the US where there are no laws prohibiting the alteration of prints or discussion of doing so, so if you live elsewhere you should maybe look into your local laws before joining the conversation. Though I doubt this body modification is illegal in many places.
Comments
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So the majority of methods that I have seen commonly discussed in other places basically boil down to creating scar tissue deep enough in the dermis that the prints either no longer form or the whirls regrow into a somewhat different arrangement.
I think these methods are very easily identifiable, beyond being incredibly painful and having a presumably high risk of complications.
One method that interested me is commonly used by cartel members, which is to switch their toe and fingerprints around through skin grafting. Almost always a doctor is enlisted to do this but I wonder if this could be performed at home using a sufficiently large dermal punch?
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Amazon One will use infrared scanning of the veins in your palm, which you can't modify.
I personally hate the idea of relying on biometrics. It's kind of like using a magstripe on your credit card, but if it's compromised it can never be changed. I much prefer implanted secure elements with changing keys.
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@Satur9 said:
Amazon One will use infrared scanning of the veins in your palm, which you can't modify.I personally hate the idea of relying on biometrics. It's kind of like using a magstripe on your credit card, but if it's compromised it can never be changed. I much prefer implanted secure elements with changing keys.
In theory you could technically change (going from having to not having is considered a change yes?) it by going full psycho mode and getting a prosthetic hand and full on deciding to remove the flesh one though I would guess at the current level of prosthetics you'd be giving up a lot of mobility in the hand so you'd want a pretty good reason to go that hardcore, or I guess a hand transplant would also do it but I imagine that's even riskier considering how few have been done successfully.
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I just hope we don't start relying on biometrics for our day to day stuff because it's not secure. Sure it's somewhat difficult to emulate a fingerprint or a palm scan *now*, but as soon as out becomes more ubiquitous and there's money to be made for thieves they'll find an exploit, and what are you gonna do then? Biometrics are just fundamentally flawed in their immutability. Obscurity is not security.
