Why Apple's 'indoor GPS' plan is brilliant
computerworld.com
computerworld.com
The concerns with the fingerprint reader always seemed minuscule. People willingly carry around a radio tracking beacon that can not only tell people where you go every single day but also record and transmit your conversations in real time and, with a smartphone, steal all your passwords. But start using your fingerprint to unlock it and suddenly it's oh no the gubmint is going to steal our precious bodily fluids! It makes no sense.
With regards to this iBeacon tech, my main concern is not being able to walk down the street without being bombarded by push notifications and offers from nearby retailers, although if used correctly this technology could enable a great deal of novel use cases that NFC can't due to it's short range.
Can we for once just be excited about a new piece of technology instead of hypothesizing how the government will misuse it?
Not this year at least, no.
It kind of makes sense. Biometrics are a whole different discipline in security and identification. It's harder to spoof, and while not really necessary for the lowly consumer, will increase their device security.
That said, you can't just say it makes no sense for any outrage when you take into account the current political hot buttons of the day: NSA's breach of trust, Rising "Inverted Totalitarianism" within the government, the lack of trust in corporate entities, etc.
It's a matter of trust. If you can't trust either a corporation or government, then this amount of open access seems scary. You may not be scared, but to dismiss others people's concern as not valid proves you're not obviously sympathetic to their viewpoint.
I'm completely sympathetic to concerns about government spying. I just don't understand why carrying around a mobile spy box all day is fine, but carrying around a mobile spy box that scans your fingerprint is an outrage.