Double authentication -- like adding passwords to fingerprint scanners -- can significantly increase safety. Some music fans have discovered that they can evade Sony's CD copyright-protection system by blackening the edge of the disk with a felt-tipped pen. In Japan, . . .
Double authentication -- like adding passwords to fingerprint scanners -- can significantly increase safety. Some music fans have discovered that they can evade Sony's CD copyright-protection system by blackening the edge of the disk with a felt-tipped pen. In Japan, a Yokohama National University professor Tsutomo Matsumoto made gelatin molds bearing fingerprints that were able to fool several high-tech fingerprint scanners about 80% of the time. First reported by cryptographer Bruce Schneier in his bimonthly Cryptogram newsletter, the whole process takes 10 minutes or so, from pressing the finger into soft plastic to pouring in warm gelatin for the mold.

Ah, the simplicity of innovation. These examples underscore two technology rules that anyone with half a brain understands. Rule No. 1: Usually, where there's a will, there's a way. Rule No. 2: Most technology has dual uses -- for good or evil. Nuclear fission can be used either to light or to level cities. Orbiting satellites can be used to track the weather or spy on unsuspecting citizens. Cryptographic software can be used by hospitals to guard patient data or by organized crime to scramble the contents of hard drives and elude law-enforcement authorities.

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