Cry To Beat Iris Scanners

Ant writes "The Register has an article on how crying beats iris scanners. An MP who volunteered to take part in the UK ID card trials says the iris scanner used is uncomfortable and made his eyes water... The water in his eyes actually stopped the scanner from working, and it seems long eyelashes and hard contact lenses could fox it too... So we're going to have a system that is derailed by a few tears and fluttering eyelashes?"

Iris Recognition - Counterfeit and Countermeasures

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.iris-recognition.org/counterfeit.htm

Re:What's the big deal...

[16K Ram Pack]

I would say quite a few, if it was proven massively unpopular, especially when the government is democratically elected.

If only you were right. The poll tax was unpopular in Scotland and still got implemented.

Also, Blunkett completely ignored the public feedback on ID cards, where something like 80% of respondents were opposed, complaining that that was because of an orchestrated campaign (like people are sheep or something).

What if all parties suppport the introduction?

[Moderation abuser]

Both Labour and the Conservatives support the introduction of biometric ID cards. Labour because they believe it will give them control and the Conservatives because of the amount of money their contributors are going to make while rolling the system out.

We're lucky in that there is one party who are definitely against ID cards, the Liberal Democrats, but realistically, they don't matter. The UK has an election system which favours the largest minority (35%-40% is enough), handing them a disproportionate majority in parliament (around 60%).

P.S. For UK residents, the BBC has a campaign page for those who are against ID cards:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ican/G114

Iris scan works flawless

[darthdrinker]

I work at a high security department of a large company. I have to pass the iris scan on a daily basis and have never had any trouble with the machine not accepting my eye. And you don't want to know how my eyes look after a weekend of drinking and barely no sleep. You don't have to open your eyes very wide or anything that would make your eyes water. You just look into the machine the same way as you normaly look at something.... Vere rarely the systems doesn't accept you the first time but when you try for a second time the system gets it. We are talking about a 10-15 second procedure so You can't copmplain about that. I don't see the problem.

New Advances In Iris Scanning Technology

[Uberwangen]

There are new advances in iris scanners where the scanners can operate even if the individual being scanned is wearing colored contact lenses or even nonreflective sunglasses. Personally I don't understand how anyone could be uncomfortable getting their iris scanned. Retinal scanning requires close contact with the scanning machine, whereas for an iris scanner, you can be a distance away, because your iris is visible from a distance. Minority Report ring a bell?

Re:Tech meet Typical

[Profane MuthaFucka]

I was about to ask you to post the entry for an Ice Bear from the Monster Manual, but then I realized that you are talking about a polar bear. I've never heard the term ice bear used before, but it's in the dictionary.

Crying doesn't BEAT it, it makes it fail

[msheppard]

Beating the device would imply somehow fooling it to granting you access. The crying effect makes it so the device will not work. So it might be a useless technology if some people can't use it.

M@