8 ms·
>Plus the fingerprint thing is probably a bigger deal than you think Am I the only person on the planet who doesn't want a fingerprint reader on my phone? I do
by chrsstrm 11y ago
>Plus the fingerprint thing is probably a bigger deal than you think
Am I the only person on the planet who doesn't want a fingerprint reader on my phone? I don't want to secure anything of importance with my fingerprint - fingerprints are usernames, not passwords. This just feels like the equivalent of writing your password on a Post-It and sticking it to your monitor.
- mmanfrin 11y agoI thought I wouldn't care for it on the iPhone, but it's honestly a nice convenience. It's not for security, it's for simple auth (like when unlocking the phone or authorizing a payment on the app store).
- detaro 11y ago> (like when unlocking the phone or authorizing a payment on the app store) Aren't these the things where you'd want security?
- CardenB 11y agoUnlocking your phone is done so frequently that many people opt not to secure it. The best security is one that you use. It's arguably more secure than a 4 number passcode, which someone can easily watch you enter over your shoulder. Buying things on the App Store requires you to type in a password for the first purchase every so often. Then you use your finger print.
- smileysteve 11y ago> It's arguably more secure than a 4 number passcode My friends often have to share their passcodes with me; at which point it's like, what's this adding?
- CydeWeys 11y agoI don't have a passcode on my phone to protect it from my friends ... similarly I don't have a lock on my front door (that I give spare keys to friends for) to protect me from my friends.
- smileysteve 11y agoThis is a good point. I guess that I think once you share it a few times and it's used regularly, then it becomes fairly public knowledge. Maybe this is a mis step from password security.
- CydeWeys 11y agoPasswords can always be changed to "reset the access list" if you will, if you're uncomfortable with how widely spread knowledge of the password has become. Biometrics, on the other hand ...
- zuppy 11y agoNobody's going to bother to recreate your fingerprint, when it's much easier to beat you with a wrench ( https://xkcd.com/538/ https://xkcd.com/538/ ) until they get access to your phone. It's a huge convenience for you though, to unlock it without doing anything extra, as you're pressing that button anyway to turn the screen on. Much easier than typing passwords.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- chrsstrm 11y agoMy worry is that this is a gateway drug to "Fingerprint protect all the things!" My bank emailed me the other day with an announcement that I could access my account through their app via my fingerprint. WTF? My text messages are one thing by now my money is protected by just my fingerprint? I took my bank to task because they allowed my username to be twice as long as the allowed characters in my password. Someone at the bank said, "Hey, all these new-fangled phones have fingerprint readers, why don't we tap into that and sell it as a feature?" When everyone is doing it, no one is going to stop and ask if they should, it's just a race to incorporate the newest features. Normal people aren't asking if this is secure, they are buying into the marketing copy pushed on them, so they start thinking that it has to be secure, because why would my bank not have my interests in mind?
- cbsmith 11y agoYes but... passwords are useless.