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Technology Stocks : Identix (IDNX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: R. Jaynes who wrote (13985)	6/22/1999 11:52:00 AM
From: David	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26039

That Herz comment didn't impress me very much. In reply to a question about the privacy-intrusiveness of biometrics, Herz basically says, "Well, it eliminates all doubt about who you are and cuts down on multiple passwords. So Big Brother will bother you less since he knows all about your identity if you use biometrics." I don't think he gets it. The point is that bio-authentication removes the need for sharing personal information with institutions like banks ('please provide your mother's maiden name'); eliminates the possibility of privacy-destroying identity theft; and takes away any excuse for personal raw data to be maintained in centralized data banks as a way of verifying ID . . . since you can verify ID locally at the POS device or PC by creating a match between your template and your fingerprint. Ultimately, it will allow raw personal data to be stored in your wallet and be perfectly protected by your biometric template lock. Further, given Herz's remark that "It is in everyone's interest for buyers and sellers to know a good deal of each other's behaviors and preferences," I don't think I would trust him with setting up a privacy-friendly ecommerce system. He is on the side of the marketers. Bio-authentication enables a global system that allows you to tell the marketers (and Mr. Herz) to go to hell.