
You can now be identified by your ‘brainprint’ with 100% accuracy - jonbaer
http://www.kurzweilai.net/you-can-now-be-identified-by-your-brainprint-with-100-accuracy
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gus_massa
In the experiment, they used only 50 subjects and they were able to
distinguish between all of them. For me, it's not clear that the "100%" will
be maintained when they use a larger group.

Also, in the previous experiment they used 32 subjects and got a "97%". I'm
not sure what that means, but I guess it's 31/32\. So perhaps they reduced the
error rate or perhaps they were lucky and didn't get the problematic subject /
collision.

~~~
dsacco
For the earlier experiment, subjects were presented with words, not images.
This is (ostensibly) what lowered the error rate.

I agree it is hard to tell if this result will be consistent with a larger
sample pool.

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xedarius
I think this has been mentioned before on HN. Finger prints, retina scans,
brain scans are not passwords, they're userid's.

If the scanner could read a password out of my head then it would be a
password. But merely knowing it's my brain isn't good enough (for secure
transactions at least).

~~~
SEJeff
Yup, you just nailed it. Here is the best writing on just that I've found (and
have shared before on HN):

[http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2013/10/fingerprints-are-
user...](http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2013/10/fingerprints-are-user-names-
not.html)

Biometric data makes for great usernames, but not so much for a password. How
do you "reset" your brainwaves? The wishy-washy part of TFA on that made me
question the entire premise.

~~~
794CD01
That's not a complete complaint. If the password were your brainwaves, why
would you still need to reset it? Did someone else steal your brain and you
need to make sure they no longer have access?

~~~
JoshTriplett
> Did someone else steal your brain and you need to make sure they no longer
> have access?

Password databases get compromised all the time; so would a "brainprint"
database. You can change a password.

~~~
Lx1oG-AWb6h_ZG0
That's what one-way hash functions are for. You never store the raw
fingerprint data, just its unique salted hash so the data cannot be reused
elsewhere.

~~~
heffo
That's the same reasoning for text passwords, yet there are huge password
dumps every year.

It only takes one place where security standards aren't implemented properly
to have your print leaked forever.

Never mind a malicious user managing to alter the code to leak the print
before it's hashed.

Or even someone physically accosting you and retrieving a brain scan. They
could do the same thing and force you to give up a password, but at least the
password you can change later on.

~~~
JoshTriplett
> Or even someone physically accosting you and retrieving a brain scan. They
> could do the same thing and force you to give up a password, but at least
> the password you can change later on.

For that matter, a password is always your choice to reveal or not, taking the
cost and alternative into account. Biometric information isn't.

------
oarsinsync
> Will it still work when I'm drunk?

Not working when drunk a potentially useful feature in some areas.

~~~
bobbyadamson
It would probably be better if it still works, but is able to read your state
ie figure out whether you are drunk or not.

------
finishingmove
Well, people change over time. Not to mention trauma. Things could happen that
change these "brain signatures". This experiment is really lacking
seriousness.

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
What happens when you take LSD and suddenly all of your brainscan passwords
fail?

I mean, hell, how can it differentiate between sober and drunk? Or high? Or
even sleep deprived?

~~~
finishingmove
Also mood swings, being sexually aroused, etc.

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
I guess in that case I would appreciate a cortisol bomb preventing me from
cashing out at an ATM at gunpoint.

------
ck2
I wonder if this is like rfid chips that were only supposed to work up to a
couple feet away but special equipment can now read them far away.

TSA doing brainprint scans someday _shudder_

~~~
ovi256
"Stand still and think of the worst experience of your life. Thank you, next!"

------
munin
the cool thing about stuff like this (I am familiar with a few different
efforts along this vein) is that you can combine something you are with
something you know. the downside of fingerprints and retinas is they can be
passively recorded and replayed, but with the brain, you could build an
authenticator that only works when the user is cooperating with the
authentication scheme, and, recording and replaying the electrical signal from
the brain won't spoof the authenticator.

until you really refine the task down to take a few seconds and you have dry
cap electrodes, it's still untenable, but progress has been made on the
latter.

------
tehwalrus
> _" It’s only a three-point difference, but going from 97 to 100 percent
> [accuracy] makes possible..."_

For some reason, this made me extremely annoyed. In terms of uncertainty, this
is the largest chasm in the world.

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pythondz
Well, It's not like we are gonna wear an EEG 24/7 just to unlock our
smartphone or pass security at work...

I think that we can build a device that can capture a brainwave et replay it.

~~~
amelius
> I think that we can build a device that can capture a brainwave et replay
> it.

I want such a device that can play back into my own brain.

~~~
gpvos
I see a huge market here for replaying orgasms.

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Joof
Need to conceal your identity? Take some LSD before going to the airport.

------
known
TL;DR

It's NOT 100% accurate

