Surveillance Overload
The world’s gone security crazy. Everywhere we go stronger measures are being implemented to combat impersonation, ID theft and fraud. Following news that a leading chain of kiddie’s nurseries in the UK is requiring parents to use fingerprint scanners before collecting their brood, the Post Office has that it is also planning a fingerprinting service to stop scumbags making off with our giros.
The Government proposal by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has asked companies such as the Post Office to collect biometric data from its customers. This sucks, and I’ll tell you why. As high tech as it seems, such a system will allow companies to gain ownership of public identity data that will be vulnerable to abuse. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a 100% secure solution, and saying you’ve got one is an open invitation to hackers who love nothing more than a challenge.
