plastic thumb jackets
it’s been a while since i gave you fine people a business model of the hour to play with, so, with a nod to my last post, i give you today’s business model of the hour: plastic thumb jackets.
here’s the problem: with biometrics taking off, and an established (cheap, and easy) mode of faking fingerprints, it’s going to be more and more important to keep your fingerprints secure. that means keeping them off things where they aren’t supposed to be, which is everything except the fingerprint scanners.
as a fan of least-complicated solutions to well-defined problems, the solution is, i think, fairly simple. finger condoms. keep your thumbs (or whatever fingers you’re using as ids) wrapped up in plastic jackets all the time, unless you’re actually using them for an important identification or authorization function.
i’m thinking a kit. plastic finger jackets, which should be a bit more durable than latex and hypoallergenic, plus a small “wipe up your own prints” widget that includes a little squeegee/brush and some solvent so you can clean up the scanner after you’ve used it.
remember: you only have one set of fingers.
there are sure to be objections – the first one i can think of is that once everyone’s got all their fingers wrapped in plastic jackets, there won’t be any fingerprints left at crime scenes anymore. but, there’s always an upside, and this means that all those hours wasted by police looking for and preserving fingerprints can be used for something more productive.
update: patent application: “method and system for securing the fingerprint from accidental deposition on surfaces which might compromise the identity of the user”