Fingerprint Biometrics on New iDevices? The NSA will love this...

Apple has been working on iOS 7 for a little while now and just recently released its fourth Beta of the new software to developers. While iOS 7 does bring a much needed facelift to the iDevice family and some cool new features, there are reports coming out that this latest Beta includes code for a fingerprint biometric scanner.

Apple appears to be prepping its next-generation iPhone with a fingerprint sensor.

Developer Hamza Sood tweeted the news on Monday, revealing that iOS 7 beta 4 includes a fingerprint sensor on the home button.

www.pcmag.com...

While in some ways this can be seen as an exciting new feature to ensure that only your fingerprint can unlock your phone, I have to wonder how excited the NSA might be about this.

Expounding on this scenario, Mike Elgan writes, that “the ‘i’ in iPhone will stand for ‘’identity,’” and that Apple as “the world’s great creator of markets… [is] capable of creating the house that everybody lives in.”

Seriously, Elgan has an interesting point. He thinks that the fingerprint tech will be deployed in concert with the long-anticipated NFC chip—which might explain why this has not been incorporated sooner. “I believe Apple sees the NFC chip and fingerprint scanner as part of a Grand Strategy: To use the iPhone as the solution to the digital identity problem,” he writes.

www.f orbes.com...

What if the NSA could capture the fingerprints of any person that touches the Home buton on an iDevice? Instant national fingerprint database!

They would know exactly who was using the iDevice, when and where the person was when they touched it, etc.

I'm not so sure I'm a fan of biometric tech being rolled out on such a widespread platform as iPhones and iPads. Especially since we know the NSA and other entities supposedly have access to Apple databases.

This would allow the NSA (and anyone the NSA shares data with) to gain biometric data on people WORLDWIDE, know exactly who was using the device, and pair that with any other data they have collected from the device such as your location, your accelometric profile, etc.

For the sake of clarity, the biometric code that's been discovered in iOS 7 Beta 4 is just software. Currently, no iDevice has fingerprint biometric hardware capabilities. So your fingers are safe on your current iPhones and iPads.

But the next iPhone & iPad might be finger hungry!

The next hardware release is schedule for this Fall. Some speculate the date to be September 18th.

Thoughts? Anyone willing to give them "The Finger"?

watch the release date be sep. 11th, the same date george h.w. bush declared the new world order.THEY are arrogant and love to leave their own fingerprints.

Theres been fingerprint scanners on laptops for years, normally they end up getting disabled due to they can't read a fingerprint after a greasy meal or just are crap at reading the fingerprint full stop, if the fingerprint gets checked via the iCloud service then it has the chance for the spooks to use it to chase down people daft enough to put their pinky on the button but i'd imagine that they'd be the low level crooks who mug people for phones and thus not really worth the spooks effort other than to perhaps issue an automatic email to the nearest police station saying that person x has stolen phone y in their possession

and what about making rubber glove tips with other peoples fingerprints on them....would confuse the hell out of them when the same phones been used by Elvis,Obama and Justin Beiber within 2 minutes

as usual .. apple slow with new tech .. laptops in japan have had that feature several years now ..
guess took apple awhile to steal the tech as they cant devolop anything original ...

The ultra totalitarian system from Mr Orwells 1984 has been in full swing for sometime now, im not really surprised this type of technology is being incorporated into our communication devices. Combine this with the Prism electronic surveillance system already in use and what a pretty picture we have!

I suppose one way round it would be to steal someone else's thumb! LoL

Originally posted by Expat888
as usual .. apple slow with new tech .. laptops in japan have had that feature several years now ..
guess took apple awhile to steal the tech as they cant devolop anything original ...

Just like apple tried to sell FaceTime so much like its this magical thing phone could do, when video calling has been around for ages and you didn't even need wifi to use it!