How your heart could hold the key to your iPhone (WTF?)

[phasma]

this is very not cool - read on  

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7823469/How-your-heart-could-hold-the-key-to-your-iPhone.html

A patent application filed by the California-based computer manufacturer has revealed that the firm is developing heartbeat sensors to put into portable electronic devices such as the iPhone. While the technology in an iPhone might be used simply to monitor the heart rate of people such as cardiac patients, the patent states that it could also have wider uses such as allowing the owner to unlock the phone or authenticating financial transactions.   It could also be used to measure the pulse of a user's finger as he operates a touch screen.  Subtle differences caused by heart size, heart rate and muscle strength can produce unique electrical patterns that distinguish individuals.

The patent claims that these unique electrical signals could be used to authenticate the users identity by matching it to a pre-recorded heart beat trace held in the phone's memory. This could be used to provide access to certain applications and data contained on a phone such as personal information or access to email. It could also be used to authenticate financial transactions.
Apple has previously published several patents that indicate its intention to turn the iPhone into a kind of electronic wallet that could be used like a contactless credit card that can be swiped over electronic readers to make transactions or withdraw money from an ATM.

The latest patent claims that the heart monitor could then be used in combination with this technology as a way of providing added security. The patent said: "The heart sensor and processor can detect and process the user's cardiac activity at any suitable time. The processor can receive and process heart activity when a user slides a finger across the display to unlock the device. "In some embodiments the duration of particular portions of a user's heart rhythm or the relative size of peaks of a user's electrocardiogram can be processed and compared to a stored profile to authenticate a user of the device." The patent, which has just been published by the US Patent and Trademark Office, also states that the device could use the owner's heartbeat to provide music that matches their mood or physical activity.

[eddy64]

i can see a flaw in this as a security tool, what happens after somebody has a heart attack wouldnt thier heartbeat be different?

[kermitthefrayer]

WTF?

[Dig]

While the technology in an iPhone might be used simply to monitor the heart rate of people such as cardiac patients, the patent states that it could also have wider uses such as allowing the owner to unlock the phone or authenticating financial transactions.


Or it could be used for deployment of assassination weapons by the state.

[jeremystalked1]

http://areyoutargeted.com/2010/06/13/apples-patent-for-remote-heartbeat-fingerprinting/



...
Remember, when reading this, that military and intelligence technology pertaining to surveillance is well ahead of what gets commercialized and sold to the public:

[Bob] Woodward hints [at] a breakthrough technology that the famed Watergate reporter likens to the creation of the tank or the first atomic bomb. “This is very sensitive and very top secret, but there are secret operational capabilities that have been developed by the military to locate, target and kill leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq, insurgent leaders, renegade militia leaders – that is one of the true breakthroughs,” Woodward told CBS correspondent Scott Pelley.

You can read more tantalizing hints about what Bob Woodward was shown in his book, A War Within.

[phasma]

Heart traces to unlock your phone. . .

unlock your bank . . .

yeah your heart beat probably does change after a heart attack - it`llalso change when you run, sleep, drink alcohol, etc etc

the devil is always in the details - its like haarp what they say its for will be some people friendly thing - what it COULD be used for is usually a non people friendly alternative.

[Dig]

Heart traces to unlock your phone. . .

unlock your bank . . .

yeah your heart beat probably does change after a heart attack - it`llalso change when you run, sleep, drink alcohol, etc etc

the devil is always in the details - its like haarp what they say its for will be some people friendly thing - what it COULD be used for is usually a non people friendly alternative.

More like iPod traces to unlock your heart, confiscate your bank, and initiate project "The Happening"

I mean really, how is this not an act of inhumanity?

[phasma]

i have no idea !
i`m sure people will happily download this "ap"

[Lin Kuei]

It all started with the Apple-1, so to speak.  Hidden in plain sight.

[phasma]

sick - and apple - symbol of gravity - issac newton - illuminati ?

[Lin Kuei]

sick - and apple - symbol of gravity - issac newton - illuminati ?

Could be... or it might be that other special apple from that special garden written about in religious mythology.

It could represent a bite taken out of a certain 'forbidden' fruit.

[InfoArsenal]

It's detecting the individual beat, not the beats together.

So if you're beats change it won't matter as long as the underlying beat is the same--at least depending on the resolution of their snapshot/authentication technique.

It's just more biometrics.

[phasma]

lovely ! just what we need more biometric data

do you think it could get to a point where there is just too much data and it cloggs the system to the point where it becomes impossible to manage it?

I hope so !