Electronic 'pet' could replace passwords and PINS

News Type: Event — Seeded on Fri May 2, 2008 8:44 AM EDT

Article Source: New Scientist

technology, research, identity, information-security, tamagotchi

Portable electronic pets able to recognise their owner's voice and walking style could replace passwords and PINs as a way to keep personal details and accounts secure, say UK researchers.

Published to:

feefmac's Column, All of Newsvine
Groups: none
Regions: none

What's this?

Who's leading the conversation?

This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user has on the current conversation. The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera). Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the left, in their corresponding group. Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.

5.3

{"commentId":1757566,"authorDomain":"jaap"}

feefmac

Instead of a person's biometric signature being stored on a distant database, they would reside only in the daemon – a small gadget carried around by its owner.

Like a real pet, that daemon would learn to imprint itself on its owner. After that it would thrive on their unique biometric signals, such as their voiceprint, fingerprints or walking style.

The human-daemon bond would be further cemented by games and interaction between the two. "Think how people bond with babies," says Briggs. "You would do the same things with your daemon – cuddle it, stroke it, play verbal games."

In the presence of its owner, those nourishing signals make the daemon "happy" and able to verify the owner's identity, just like a PIN or password.

However, a daemon separated from its owner would no longer receive nourishment in this way and would pine away and die

{"commentId":1757566,"threadId":"258640","contentId":"1465315","authorDomain":"jaap"}

3 votes

#1 - Fri May 2, 2008 8:46 AM EDT

{"commentId":1758147,"authorDomain":"lucidcommunication"}

lucidcommication

Fascinating, but disturbing. Technology is something we should always be in control of, and that control, at worst, vanished and, at best, becomes muddled at a certain level of interface. Not to mention that this sounds like it could have a eery Big Brother potential. I'll have to say, no thanks.

{"commentId":1758147,"threadId":"258640","contentId":"1465315","authorDomain":"lucidcommunication"}

4 votes

#2 - Fri May 2, 2008 11:02 AM EDT

{"canLink":false,"threadId":"258640","isPrivate":false}

FEEFMAC

Backyard

Electronic 'pet' could replace passwords and PINS

Published to:

FUN STUFF:

COMPANY STUFF:

LEGAL STUFF: