To all,
Secure Lockers at Your Fingertips
Updated 2:07 PM ET November 10, 1999
LONDON (Reuters) - Forgot which locker you put your luggage in? Lost the key? Can't remember the pin number?
The answer could be on your fingertip with new lockers being tested in Belfast's Great Victoria Street railway station, according to New Scientist magazine.
The Northern Ireland railway terminal hasn't seen lockers since the 1970s when they were used to deposit bombs, not bags, during the height of the conflict in the British province.
The new lockers being tested by SmartLok of Edinburgh are designed to deter criminals and will be opened and closed with a person's fingerprints.
"What person, up to no good, is going to deposit something where his ID is his fingerprint," SmartLok's chief executive Bob Laidlaw told New Scientist.
Every fingerprint is unique and will be stored for future reference and time-stamped. So even if the customer can't remember the correct locker, the fingertip will.
SmartLok uses FingerTIP, a technology developed by German industrial group Siemens AG which records the electrical charges of the ridges and valleys of the fingertip.
"A key can be passed between people, as can a PIN number," said Laidlaw.
"This ensures that the depositor is the receiver."
news.excite.com:80/news/r/991110/14/science-science-lockers
steve |
