Thread: Password-based DRM has a dim future
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Old 06-06-2011, 01:43 PM   #8
Elfwreck
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan View Post
Fingerprint scanners are already here, small enough to include in the smallest digital hardware, relatively inexpensive and easy to use. Not that retina scans don't work, but fingerprint scanners are more efficient for verifying security on a portable device, and the tech is ready now.
The tech is there for device locking; the software's not yet developed (or if it is, very rare) for individual file locking. For a fingerprint-based ebook to work, you'd have to be able to enter your fingerprint at time of purchase/first download to encrypt the book to your ID. That means you can only buy books from a device that has a fingerprint scanner--no more purchases from most PCs, unless you buy a USB-based scanner.

Any ID tech has to be ubiquitous before it's useful. Credit card info, entered at purchase time, is usable by any site; fingerprint ID, requiring special hardware before purchase and special software at the website, is a much bigger hurdle to force on people.
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