identity theft
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Seiko Epson developing tiny fingerprint sensor
With all this paranoia surrounding identity theft, we've seen fingerprint sensors on everything from hard drives to door locks to laptops, but the common feature on all of those is the relative thickness of the device. By "relatively thick," we mean that these current tags would probably bulk up your wallet in a bad way should they ever be used to tag things like credit and debit cards. Seiko Epson is on top of it, however, and are developing a ridiculously thin (0.2mm) fingerprint sensor that will allow mobile devices to be easily secured by biometrics. Potential applications, aside from deterring thieves from swiping your self-authenticating credit card, are tagging cellphones, MP3 players, and essentially anything that can fit into your pocket. The sensor operates by reading the faint electric current that emanates from your fingertip and conveys your specific print pattern for verification -- if it detects somebody trying their best to mimic your phalanges, it deactivates the device, rendering it useless to the perpetrator. While there's a certain sense of security gained by having everything you own equipped with a fingerprint sensor, we can envision that sharing your tagged gadgetry with friends could become tricky, and while Seiko Epson can't quite put a finger on a release date, it's expecting 2010 before this goes full scale.[Via Pink Tentacle]
One Time Password DisplayCard heightens transaction security
While we were a bit skeptical when Chase sent us one of their questionably-secure RFID-equipped "Blink" cards last year, we're gonna be all over a new technology from several companies that actually gives credit cards a heigtened level of security by generating a one-time passcode for each transaction, viewable on an embedded e-ink display. The OTP DisplayCard, as it's being called, was developed by InCard Technologies in conjunction with security firm nCryptone using technology from SiPix Imaging and SmartDisplayer, and is being targeted at financial institutions or at other companies as a replacement for the password-generating key fobs used to enable VPN access to their intranets. While the added security feature would come into play for both online and in-person transactions, it will probably be most useful for Internet purchases, making your credit card info almost worthless to identity thieves who can't get their hands on the card itself. Oh, and to answer the inevitable question: no, these cards will not be able to play Doom.[Via mobileread]
Japan sees sharp decline in cellphone recycling
As cellphones become more than just communication tools, incorporating gaming, multimedia, and PIM features, consumers are growing more and more attached to their handsets -- which is leading to a sharp decline in the number of old phones being recycled. According to a 2005 survey by Japan's Telecommunications Carriers Association, respondents cited both nostalgia and concern over potential data leaks as the main reasons they're holding onto old phones, which helps explain the 30% drop in handsets recovered for recycling from 2003 to 2004. Security concerns are so high that some people are turning to crushing machines which punch a hole through the phone's circuit board, in full view of the customer, rendering it useless. Judging by some of the drawers full of old phones that we've seen right here in the US, this is probably not just a Japanese phenomenon, although a slew of new carriers entering that market next year could exacerbate what some see as a growing problem.[Via textually]
