Savannah Mather, Staff Writer
After Apple launched the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, other companies are now striving to compete and generate the newest way to create a passcode on your device. Corporations have developed technology that interacts with your specific and unique body in order to create a passcode on your phones, laptops, tablets, etc. However, lack of privacy may be a common fear when partaking in this type of technology.
A biometrics based company, known as Bionym has developed the Nymi wristband. A simple bracelet with a sensor that can detect the patterns of your own heartbeat, which will then translate into your device, and generate a password based off of those patterns.
“The government or Apple would have accessible ways to identify you or track you based on the information they could gather through this pass coding,” NHS sophomore Shane Gattey said.
Along with the Nymi wristband, another form of pass coding is known as the Myris. This device comes in the form of a small disk, about the size of your palm, developed by the company Eyelock. When the disk is held up to your eye, a small circle located in the center has the ability to scan the feature of your eye, specifically your iris. This will ensure that your device is protected and locked, as your eye is the only one of its kind.
“I would participate in this idea of using your eye as a pass code because it would be a much easier way to access personal items such as your phones or your computer. I am a bit scared of having the government having access to something as individualized as the pattern of your iris because your iris pattern is solely yours. No one else has the exact same iris, so the government having access to something as individualized as that is a bit concerning,” NHS freshman Connor Munro said.
The government has been known for looking into private information due to their accessibility to people’s body identification.
“I think it’s creepy, and it’s scary that the government would have your stuff like that. If like someone knows what my eye looks like, they could just figure out everything else about me. They could find me out,” NHS freshman Sam Strocchia said.
After Edward Snowden leaked information regarding a U.S spy program that is able to view all of our online connection and phone calls, people were very concerned about the lack of privacy they are receiving. In fact, a large portion of consumers who bought the iphone 5, were very suspicious of putting their fingerprint into their phone, for fear of the government being able to access your information.
“The government could be spending their money in more useful ways. Government is already stripping us of our rights and they know so much. I am not necessarily scared, more like annoyed and worried for the future,” NHS freshman Lauren Montague said.
What kind of things do people need to lock up so well on their phones though? What are they hiding? Unfortunately, in this day and age, technology has worked to the advantage of people who have bad intentions.
“It’s all becoming too much. People may be hiding plans for bombing, and murder plans, but they might not be hiding much either, just pictures or something. You really can’t trust anyone anymore and if they need a code so complex then that will just make people assume the worst,” Montague said.
Terrorists, threats, hackers, and other harmful forces have all used technology to help enforce their effect, or hide the identity as to who is responsible. With this new body identifying technology, those who are looking to do significant damage through their devices, now have the ability to lock their work and hide their tracks with these passcodes, which makes it even more difficult to stop the problem.
“The problem with asking what might people be hiding is very hard to clearly state because everyone has different things that they may want to keep private. Some may want pictures not to surface, others may not want people to look at their texts, but there is no clear definition of what someone would be hiding,” Munro said.
Although its production is only meant for beneficial purposes, all technology has the ability to backfire. It all depends on who is using it, and whether or not these companies are willing to take that risk.
Photo Credit; www.dvice.com