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Geez.....RELAX about "NSA stealing finger prints"

Hart1583

Hart1583

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2011
195
159
Peoria, IL
If you are so worried about your fingerprint on your phone....simple.....don't use it. You're worried about a finger print, that if anybody wanted they could get it (go through trash, get it off your front bm door handle, ect)

You know what the only problem with the government, NSA, anybody having your finger print? They can link you to a crime right a away.

What can anybody, the government, anybody do with your fingerprint that is so damn life concerning? The only time in the last 10 years I've used my fingerprint was casing a check at a bank I didn't belong at, so they took my thumb print.

But seriously guys....your fingerprint isn't worth a damn but to link you to a crime
 
Not just for linking you to a crime... but I take your point.

A fingerprint simply shows you touched an object. So, it can also provide circumstantial evidence that you were at a specific location. Eg: if there is a bar with your fingerprint on it at someone's house, it's likely you were at the house (evidence is only circumstantial because the bar could have been placed there by a third party).

Could also be used by private eyes and stuff.
 
If the NSA were behind this and they did actually want your fingerprint it wouldn't really matter if you activated it or not. You'd have to touch the home button so they'd override your choice, activate it for a moment and get it.

That being said, I don't think anyone should worry about it either. If the 5S was somehow sending your fingerprint outside your phone I'm pretty sure someone would eventually find out and it'd be a disaster for Apple.
 
What terrible advice. Please just stop talking. Seriously!

Because Apple knows a lot of us care about security and privacy, they actually did the finger print scanning feature quite right. Storing it locally, putting time bounds around accessing it, etc. are there because Apple knows that we care.
 
scarred said:
What terrible advice. Please just stop talking. Seriously!

Because Apple knows a lot of us care about security and privacy, they actually did the finger print scanning feature quite right. Storing it locally, putting time bounds around accessing it, etc. are there because Apple knows that we care.
Click to expand...

And because they want to control it first instead of letting the tech run free and potentially have a lawsuit right up their butts.
 
Hart1583 said:
If you are so worried about your fingerprint on your phone....simple.....don't use it. You're worried about a finger print, that if anybody wanted they could get it (go through trash, get it off your front bm door handle, ect)

You know what the only problem with the government, NSA, anybody having your finger print? They can link you to a crime right a away.

What can anybody, the government, anybody do with your fingerprint that is so damn life concerning? The only time in the last 10 years I've used my fingerprint was casing a check at a bank I didn't belong at, so they took my thumb print.

But seriously guys....your fingerprint isn't worth a damn but to link you to a crime
Click to expand...

Yep, we all know that, instead of the NSA, its much better for advertisers to monitor our browsers and track our movements, as they have done the last 10-15 years. But strangely, nary a peep about that ;)
 
scarred said:
What terrible advice. Please just stop talking. Seriously!

Because Apple knows a lot of us care about security and privacy, they actually did the finger print scanning feature quite right. Storing it locally, putting time bounds around accessing it, etc. are there because Apple knows that we care.
Click to expand...

You know they build backdoors in all the securities right? Haven't you read the news?
 
You have to realise one thing...

people LOVE to complain, they just need an excuse and they will take it and run with it. A lot of people practice complaining, fear etc all their lives so its really easy for them to bite into almost anything and go with it.
 
For one thing a concern is that it CAN link you to a crime. Laws and regimes change. Innocent and legal behaviour now may not be so in the future. History should have taught us this many times over. Not everyone lives in the USA. But even there the way of life will change one day. No country has ever been immune.
 
Rafterman said:
Yep, we all know that, instead of the NSA, its much better for advertisers to monitor our browsers and track our movements, as they have done the last 10-15 years. But strangely, nary a peep about that ;)
Click to expand...

Can advertisers send men with guns to my house with legal impunity? The Federal government can.

That said, if the NSA or FBI wanted to get your fingerprint, there are much easier ways than stealing it from your phone. Dusting it off your doorknob, steering wheel, or the fork you ate your Chipotle with would be much easier. Furthermore, if they reasonably suspect you of a crime they can fingerprint you with a warrant. The NSA issue is real, but fingerprints aren't really a concern. Also, Apple did this right as noted above.
 
Every tourists coming to the USA already have to give their fingerprints when they enter the country, so it doesn't change anything for them ;)
 
Hart1583 said:
What can anybody, the government, anybody do with your fingerprint that is so damn life concerning? The only time in the last 10 years I've used my fingerprint was casing a check at a bank I didn't belong at, so they took my thumb print.

But seriously guys....your fingerprint isn't worth a damn but to link you to a crime
Click to expand...

The issue isn't about the NSA or some other government agency stealing your fingerprints; that's paranoid babble. I imagine a lot of the people who spout that line have voluntarily given their fingerprints to the government at some point in their lives, whether they remember doing so or not.

There are, however, very real concerns regarding Fifth Amendment privileges and being compelled to unlock your phone for law enforcement officers. The law distinguishes between a suspect being compelled to provide a password or encryption key for a locked device and being compelled to provide a physical token of some kind that provides access to the same. The former is protected by the right against self-incrimination, while the latter is not. It's ironic that a fingerprint sensor, which should provide greater security than a password, actually makes it easier for authorities to lawfully gain access to your phone. I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more attention, since it's a lot more pertinent to most users than this nonsense about the NSA.
 
wellingtonwimpy said:
The issue isn't about the NSA or some other government agency stealing your fingerprints; that's paranoid babble. I imagine a lot of the people who spout that line have voluntarily given their fingerprints to the government at some point in their lives, whether they remember doing so or not.

There are, however, very real concerns regarding Fifth Amendment privileges and being compelled to unlock your phone for law enforcement officers. The law distinguishes between a suspect being compelled to provide a password or encryption key for a locked device and being compelled to provide a physical token of some kind that provides access to the same. The former is protected by the right against self-incrimination, while the latter is not. It's ironic that a fingerprint sensor, which should provide greater security than a password, actually makes it easier for authorities to lawfully gain access to your phone. I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more attention, since it's a lot more pertinent to most users than this nonsense about the NSA.
Click to expand...

This.

People are too paranoid these days, they act like we haven't been spied on all our lives. It's called national security and protection. I don't agree with all the government/NSA does but seriously some people are way too paranoid.
 
I had to get fingerprinted when I was a substitute teacher about a decade ago. The NSA hasn't caught me yet for that time I robbed Gotham Central Bank and shot my whole crew. Why so serious, everybody?
 
I'm as distrustful of agencies such as the next guy FBI, CIA, NSA, and the like. And unlike most of the posters here, having grown up a "pink diaper baby" during the McCarthy era in the 50's, and Hoover's no-limits FBI...I've earned my distrust.

But this fingerprint thing with the iPhone is so far over the top, it really borders on, or leaps into, the pathological.
 
I don't for a minute think this will happen (yet), but every time you unlock your phone with your fingerprint, the phone could record your location and send that along with the verified (by your fingerprint) user ID to the NSA.

They would then know the identities of everyone who used an iPhone in the vicinity of a crime and could round them up for questioning about why they were there

It's not about your fingerprint per se, but the fact that you are identifying yourself with some certainty every time you unlock your phone.
 
Phil A. said:
It's not about your fingerprint per se, but the fact that you are identifying yourself with some certainty every time you unlock your phone.
Click to expand...


you are identifying yourself with "some certainty" every time you USE your phone, let alone unlock it.


if the government wants to track you down, they'll just use your phone's signal to find you. if you lost it, chances are you notified the carrier.


and jeez people the government already HAS your fingerprints on their database. you give it to them when you get a passport, or a driving license... and what not.
 
I'd rather give the government my fingerprints or phone records (and you didn't think they could get those from line line phones?) than Facebook and Google knowing what they know about me and their vision about what they want to do with it other than making money.
But guess what if I want to use those services I need to give them information. Everyone who has ever been in the Military or probably served the public has given their fingerprints. You think the government doesn't keep track of everywhere you travel by plane.

Fingerprint scanner on a phone doesn't bother me. An if Apple changes things and starts to store your fingerprint on a server I'm sure all the hackers and media folks will let us know about it.
 
I dont care who has my FP. I'm not a criminal, and I don't plan on becoming one any time soon. And the technology is such, that even if u lifted a print u still couldn't scan it into my phone. And even if u could, and someone wanted my FP that bad, they could easily get it a million different ways.
 
People who spew all their personal information on Facebook and Twitter are going to be worried about their fingerprints in their phone. Yeah, right.
 
sulpfiction said:
I dont care who has my FP. I'm not a criminal, and I don't plan on becoming one any time soon. And the technology is such, that even if u lifted a print u still couldn't scan it into my phone. And even if u could, and someone wanted my FP that bad, they could easily get it a million different ways.
Click to expand...

they could get them a million different ways, mine as well make it easy for em!
 
My thoughts on the new iPhone 5s:

2zog01f.jpg



Quick fun with Photoshop
 
Last edited:
keatth said:
they could get them a million different ways, mine as well make it easy for em!
Click to expand...

Point is, who cares if the NSA has our prints? I don't. What difference does it make? So now they have my prints...then what? They'll only be useful if I commit a crime and they pull my prints from the scene. When they run my prints ill get caught quicker. And since I don't plan on committing a crime in the near future, I'm not concerned one bit.
 
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