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I really don't like this idea.

Fingerprints are comparatively hard to get hold of. But a 3D face map? Two photos and you can build a rubber face. Two small motor servos, and it blinks.
Couple this with the extra hassle of having to raise the device and look into the cameras, I hope Apple DON'T use this.

It could be OK on Macs, if coupled with a 4-digit pass code, but on its own, I think TouchID is vastly superior in every way.
 
We're already seeing some of the potential downsides of biometric passwords with such things as the Virginia court ruling that a search warrant isn't needed for police to search the contents of your iPhone, as long as the only thing securing it is the Touch ID fingerprint.

When "you are the password", it amounts to walking around in public with your password on display. Facial recognition? Anyone can take a photo of your face and trick a system by holding it up to the camera. You leave behind fingerprints all day long as you handle objects, and those can be lifted with a piece of scotch tape and transferred to a form that lets someone bypass a touch verification system.

Arguably a retinal scan would be harder to defeat... but even so? It would seem that eye doctors and opticians would suddenly have pretty easy ability to copy your "password" and either misuse it or sell it to others who would.

As inconvenient as today's passwords are ... they do at least have value in the fact they can be stored in your brain, where nobody has access to them unless you opt to divulge them yourself.

Personally, I think the password concept needs to go away ... but most likely replaced with some kind of smart card/key system. You could incorporate biometrics as kind of a "2 factor" security that ran alongside it? (It needs the proper secure card inserted AND a fingerprint or retinal scan match.) But biometrics alone don't solve all of the security problems.

When a program asks for your password, in reality what it's trying to do is find out that the person who is logging in is the person who they say they are.

Like, if you work at a small company where everyone knows everyone else, you can walk right in the front door, people will say, 'Hi. Mr Beagle', and you go on your way. This is similar to how a facial recognition system SHOULD work.

But at a large company, you need an ID badge that you can scan in to get into the front door. Nobody is there to say, 'Hi. Mr Beagle'. just a computer system. This can be tricked MUCH easier by forging the ID badge. Hundreds of Hollywood movies use this technique to gain access to places people shouldn't gain access to.

I'm simply stating that if a way to recognize a person 'is who they say they are' is developed, to which it is MUCH harder to fake than the current password system, it's going in the right direction. Of course things can be faked, but the point is to find something LESS easily faked than exists now.
 
20 years from now, we'll be watching old TV shows and movies where people refer to 'passwords' and we'll laugh how old it is.

A password is simply a way to trust that someone is who they say they are. But fingerprints, facial recognition, retina scans, etc. are all what SHOULD be happening, not a password. Technology is finally catching up.

Lenovo had facial recognition utilities on some ThinkPad models years ago. When I was playing with the software, I could set it to lock the screen when it couldn't detect my face for 20 seconds (or whatever parameter I wanted to set). The tech isn't new, it's just not been widely adopted.

Again, with fingerprint scanners. I've been using them for over 10 years in one way or another. The tech isn't new, but maybe it's finally beginning to catch on.

As for retina scans, that's a bit OTT and I can't see that making it through to mainstream consumer tech any time soon.
 
No solution is ever "done", especially when TouchID introduces an inherent disadvantage in reducing bezels of mobile devices. Compare some android devices that has same 4.7" screen yet has thinner bezel. (Yes. Thinner the bezel the better.) Perhaps some uber cool future technology can make fingerprint scanning possible anywhere on screen itself. But until then, fingerprint is not without a flaw. Facial recognition isn't going to be perfect for all devices nor all situations. But that doesn't meant that there isn't any use for (and need to improve) it.

Okay. We shall see how it works out.

By the way, at some point Apple could put the touchID button on the back of the device to solve your bezel issue. But for now it is so darn useful it is definitely worth the space tradeoff.
 
So when the Supreme Court decides that a phone that can be unlocked by a face must be unlocked for police search, what will you do? For fingerprint at least there is the potential of a “middle finger” option to permanently lock/erase the device to prevent unlawful seizure.

Make a funny face.
 
in the world of Intel :

YAP :) i'm ready..

But all this just makes that must easier for the governments too...

Looks like i'm sticking with passwords... at least i only get 6 months. It's not all bad
 
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