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Comment by BinaryIdiot | Hacker News Reader

> Don't use biometrics as a password; use them as a username

Even then people's faces change and through accidents fingerprints can also be changed / removed and then you're shit out of luck. I'm terrified I would store my important shit in something like that then get into a car accident or something and be no longer able to open it.

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Implement it like the Xbox Kinect auto-signin where you still have a username but the camera lets the device figure it out on its own. That way people can still manually enter their username in the event of any disfiguring injury or technical glitches but don't have to normally.

Right but the post I was responding to said to use biometrics as the username hence my comment. You're suggesting using it as a type of password :)

No I'm not, I'm suggesting it be used to identify the user, then they can enter their password the same as always.

Yet another reason why this is a horrible idea.

"We couldn't detect your face/fingerprints please enter your username directly instead."

What if you get into a car accident and no longer remember the master password to your hardware password safe?

What if you remember it but lost your arms and are no longer able to type?

The car accident scenario is not very useful.

You can write down your master password somewhere, or share it with a loved one. This is no different from having backups for important data. You can't easily backup your iris, face, or fingerprints.

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