jueves, 28 de febrero de 2013

Good-bye Passwords! Hello Disaster!


According to this article, Paypal will soon adopt a new technology that will enable people to use, instead of those lousy, lowly, easy-to-hack passwords, that person's fingerprint.

Is this something to be cheered or looked forward with joy?

I mean, right now cyber criminals can give you lots of headaches if they get one of your passwords.  Can you imagine what they can do if they get your very fingerprints? You'll use them also as passwords, don't forget.

During my Windows days, I got my Paypal account hacked and used for a small transaction.  When I discovered it, I contacted Paypal and they, very professionally, after having investigated the issue, corrected the situation.  But I was required to change my password, obviously.

What are they going to do in similar cases now?  Will they ask people to change their fingerprints?   :P

I don't have any problems with my passwords.  Linux takes care of them very well.  Why would I like to give my fingerprints to strangers all over the world?

This takes the idea of "no privacy over the Web" to a brand new level!

It seems that laziness and ignorance, combined with technology, are causing some parts of our brains to go dormant.  We have smart phones, smart watches, soon smart glasses...but no smart minds. When will they invent an app to wake up our brains? 


6 comentarios:

  1. I have to say that I don't like the idea of a company storing my fingerprints, either. It is bad enough that users info gets sold or stolen, but this level of info is truly scary.

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    1. I agree. I use Linux myself and I am totally at ease with my passwords, since there are no spam or malware on linux, so they should offer linux to pc out there, but microsoft and apple are corporations, so its all about $$$.

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    2. Yes, as you well said it, it is all about the money. Then, these corporations put up a circus "for our safety" but what they are doing in reality is restricting our rights. The so-called "secure boot" (better called "restricted boot") is one example. With that, people won't be the owners of the hardware they buy. These corporations are progressively taking everything from us, and people very happily give them not only their money, but also their privacy and rights.

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  2. damn I'm not using paypal if they ask for my fingerprint. I'd rather get hacked.

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    1. Right. If something can be transferred digitally, it can also be intercepted by someone who knows how to do it. I'm not risking my very identity, no matter how safe they tell me their process is. If my fingerprints get stolen and used for unauthorized transactions, how am I going to prove it wasn't me who did that?

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