Quote:
Originally Posted by Penforhire
Elfwreck, fingerprint sensing technology is indeed mature enough to be easy and reliable. Not many here seem to be using any of the latest business class laptops from HP or Lenovo. I've said it before - the EliteBook I use at work has a masterful stripe-type fingerprint scanner that never fails to recognize me. It is also batting 1,000 at not accepting other peoples' fingerprints. We keep checking because it amuses us. If you look at the lastest Lenovo X-series you can see how the technology fits even the smallest laptops as well.
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I read under conditions I'd never expose a laptop to. Will it recognize fingerprints while inside a ziploc to keep it safe from rain or read in the tub? Will it work with the shaking hands of someone who can't turn pages of a paper book without tearing them? Will it work with an alternate (password, I suppose?) for someone who's injured their hands? What keeps the scanner clear--can I safely read it & eat, or will oils cause problems for it? How secure is the scanner software--can it be deleted by accident, or will a firmware update require new verification? If I authorize my 12-year-old daughter, will her scan still work in four years?
Also: Steve was advocating a scanner requirement for each
ebook, not just for the device. Not, "you are the authorized owner of this ebook reader; now you can read anything on it," but "you must confirm your fingerprint before reading this ebook." That's an additional chance for digital corruption for each ebook. It also means no reading with gloves on in the winter. And, of course, no converting your books to a format readable on a device that doesn't have the scanner.
Some of that's a stretch, but the point is--fingerprint scanners for ebooks could be a minor issue for most uses, like DRM is now, but it'd be a stumbling block for some and a device-killer for a few people.
The tech, however, is debatable. Maybe a single authorization would unlock all books on that device keyed to that fingerprint, for 24 hours. Maybe it only gets done once per book, like the old ereader credit-card authorization. (For that, you need a scanner at buying time and another, identical scanning device, at your reader.) Shrug. I expect it not to happen because coordinating the tech would cost money that nobody wants to spend right now.
The ideological issue of, "of course it's okay to demand a fingerprint--which can be used to legally identify you--so you can use what you've bought" is a different matter entirely, and doesn't change when the tech details do.