Potential BlackBerry biometrics provokes worry
01 February, 2010
category: Biometrics
Research In Motion (RIM), developers of BlackBerry smart phones and mobile devices, have extended a patent for biometric scanners embedded into their phones to include a fingerprint scanner built into the new BlackBerry Trackpad, according to a Network World article. While the patent extension and potential implementation of such technology into RIM’s devices could become a key security upgrade for corporate usage, however, the technology has some worried.
Al Sacco, technology writer for CIO.com, points to past experiences with embedded fingerprint technology, such as those on IBM or Lenovo ThinkPad computers, causing more problems for the IT staff at his business than solutions. While the problem wasn’t due entirely to failures on the technology, it also suffers due to human error and ignorance getting in the way of proper utilization of it.
Despite the worries, Sacco acknowledges the potential good such security technology could do on devices like BlackBerrys, but maintains that it could merely translate into failed experiments adding extra burden onto a corporation’s IT staff.
Read the full story here.