WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: Biometrics: Digital Fingerprinting 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.760 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.720 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio and 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.320 a love of all things tech. It is time for 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:26.040 a classic episode. This episode originally aired on April two, fourteen. 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:33.520 It is called Biometrics Digital Fingerprinting Enjoy. We thought, hey, 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:35.840 we should talk about biometrics, and then we started looking 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:38.320 into it and getting really excited, and then we realized, hey, 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:43.200 there's a lot to talk about, right. You know. Biometrics, 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:49.880 of course, being the measurable biological or behavioral characteristics used 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.800 for for any given individual. Yes, this is what how 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:57.200 the FBI says, this is what the biometrics are. So, uh, 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.000 you know, it's one of those things where we knew 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:01.000 it was a huge time bick and we decided to 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:06.600 narrow it down. So today we're specifically focusing on your fingerprints. Well, 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:09.760 not your fingerprints, I mean, I mean everyone's fingerprints. No, 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.160 see the person sitting next to you, No, not that one, 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:15.600 the other one, that person's fingerprints. That's that's the one 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:20.320 we're concentrating on. So yeah, because everyone has has different fingerprints, 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:22.800 I mean like everyone, right, and this is something that 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.480 has been known for a while but then forgotten and 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:27.640 then rediscovered. So we're going to talk about that because 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.240 it's kind of funny. So these days we think of 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.160 biometrics as sort of those automated ways to verify your 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.480 identity based on some sort of biological characteristic, like you know, 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:40.440 the eye scan or the fingerprints scan or whatever. Vocal 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:44.320 scans as well, you know, like the voice imprint. Lots 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:48.320 of different Hollywood versions of this. But you know, again, 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.960 going into that fingerprint approach, we thought that, uh, you know, 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:54.680 we we look at not just how we've defined it 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.640 and how stuff works, but look at a whole history 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:01.360 of fingerprinting. We're not the first podcast to do this, 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.560 by the way, certainly not. Josh and Chuck of Stuff 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:08.440 you Should Know did an episode on April called how 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:12.160 Fingerprinting Works, and they go pretty deeply into the history 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.600 and say many pithy things. So if you would like 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.320 to check that episode out, you can go to Stuff 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:19.960 you Should Know dot com right and just stick around, 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:21.880 because we're gonna say some pithy things too. We are 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:23.920 going to cover some of the history kind of a 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:27.320 quick overview, but first I thought I would read a 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.560 couple of little excerpts from our article on how fingerprints 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:32.639 scanners work, because there are a couple that I thought 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.640 were really interesting from how stuff works dot Com. Neither 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:37.880 of us actually wrote this. Nope, Nope, I didn't write 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:41.280 this one. This one says people have tiny ridges of 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:44.760 skin on their fingers because this particular adaptation was extremely 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:48.720 advantageous to the ancestors of the human species. The pattern 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:51.560 of ridges and valleys on fingers make it easier for 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:53.760 the hands to grip things in the same way a 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:57.680 rubber tread pattern helps to attire grip the road. The 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:02.240 other function of fingerprints is a total coincidence. Like everything 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:05.240 in the human body, these ridges form through a combination 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.600 of genetic and environmental factors. The genetic code and DNA 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:10.720 gives general orders in the way skin should form in 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:13.560 the developing fetus, but the specific way it forms is 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.480 a result of random events. The exact position of the 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:18.720 fetus in the womb at a particular moment, and the 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:22.480 exact composition and density of surrounding amniotic fluid decides how 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:25.919 every individual ridge will form. This, by the way, is 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:30.200 how identical twins can have different fingerprints pretty cool because 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:34.160 you know, genetically they're identical, but their fingerprints are different, 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:40.760 still different. Interesting. So looking at this history, you might think, Okay, 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:45.400 I've heard about fingerprinting, particularly when it applies to law enforcement. 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:47.440 That's probably where a lot of people are familiar with it, 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:50.480 besides the verification. Sure, sure, and uh and a couple 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.520 popular media pieces have talked recently about Um. I mean 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:56.960 you you get things like Ripper Street or Sleepy Hollow 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:01.119 having characters going like this new fingerprinting thing in the amaging, 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:05.560 amazing Age of Victoria. Um, not not so much. Actually, 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:07.960 so fingerprints people, Well, first of all, people have been 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.720 aware of them for ages because we're curious folks, you know, 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:16.120 human beings. We we were very curious and narcissistic. We 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:19.480 like to learn stuff and we like to look at ourselves. 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:23.200 And how do I know that this dates back are 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.640 ages and ages and ages ago because we have prehistoric 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:31.320 depictions found in Nova Scotia and it depicted a hand 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:33.880 with ridge patterns on the skin. Now, that does not 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:38.640 mean that the ancient Nova Scotians were familiar with the 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:42.280 fact that all the fingerprints were unique, and therefore no 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.520 to individuals had the same ones, but at least showed 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.880 that you know, yeah, they noticed them. Yeah, but the 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:53.720 ancient Babylonians may have actually used fingerprints to differentiate people. Um, 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:57.880 we've found fingerprints in clay to to sign business transactions, 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:01.520 and the ancient Chinese used inked fingerprints for both business 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:06.040 purposes and child identification. And in the thirteen hundreds in Persia, 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:11.440 official government documents often included fingerprints, probably to indicate they 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:15.480 were authorized and official. Now, according to the US Marshall's Office, 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.800 which has an entire web page devoted to fingerprinting in 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:22.520 the history of it, one government official in Persia at 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:25.600 that time made the observation that no two fingerprints were alike, 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.680 which obviously would be very important if you're making a 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:32.680 document official or authorized. But it wasn't until the eighteen 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:37.080 eighties that that amazing Age of Victoria previously mentioned that 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.400 we got some kind of official classification system, right. It 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:43.560 wasn't until the modern era that we started seeing it. 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.760 In uh story, it wasn't even in wide use at 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:50.160 the beginning. It was just kind of exploratory. Dr Henry 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:54.240 Faulds back in eighteen eighty proposed using fingerprints for identification 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:57.560 as well as a means of classifying them. So he 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:02.880 forwarded these ideas to a certain Charles Darwin, very important 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:05.680 historical figure in his own right. But Darwin at the 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:08.000 time was towards the end of his life and felt 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:11.800 that he did not have the necessary UH time and 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.880 energy to devote to this thought. It was really interesting, however, 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.560 so he forwarded the information along to a cousin of 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:21.960 his named Francis Galton. So false would write a scientific 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:27.600 paper about his methods and actually identified a fingerprint, ascertain 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.800 the identity of the person who left that fingerprint on 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.679 bottle of alcohol. Shouldn't come as any surprise. I guess 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:40.239 this brings us all together. It does. Then in three 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:45.360 Mark Twain would would use this this new startling scientific 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:47.960 information in a story. Yeah, it was in Life on 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:51.080 the Mississippi, And in that one of the elements of 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:53.600 that story is a murderer is identified through the use 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:56.279 of fingerprints. And he would revisit the idea in a 0:06:56.320 --> 0:07:02.000 book called Putting Head Wilson Putting Head. Well, so it's interesting. Now, 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:06.880 this was before anyone was actually using UH fingerprints in 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:09.760 any kind of criminal investigations on an official basis. It 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:13.640 had not been science fiction, really was. It kind of 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:16.440 was so so that was exciting. But but soon in 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:20.600 eighteen eighty eight, Sir Francis Galton, remember the cousin to 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:24.280 Charles Darwin, who had received information about this about ten 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:27.360 years previous, um, began his own study of fingerprints. Yep. 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:29.520 He wrote a book in eighteen ninety two and put 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:34.080 forth a formal classification system and identify the tiny characteristics 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:38.520 used to differentiate fingerprints, which now we call Galton's details. 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.320 He also observed that fingerprints don't change over the lifetime 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:43.960 of a person, so the ones you have when you're 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:46.400 a kid are the same ones you have when you're old. 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:51.680 Originally wanted to kind of link fingerprints to certain types 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:56.200 of traits like intelligence or heredity, which is so racist. Yeah, 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.560 kind of essentially, I think this was almost in an 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.080 attempt And I don't know enough about Galton to say 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:04.440 this for sure, but it seems like an attempt to 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:11.200 justify certain societies beliefs in certain people, that kind of thing. Yeah, 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:15.360 it wasn't necessarily so racist, but um, but it kind 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:17.400 of runs in that direction. Yeah, Because I mean, the 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:20.200 idea that you could identify a person's intelligence based on 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.679 their fingerprints already seems a little sketchy, and in fact, 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:27.360 he did determined that there was no connection. There was 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:30.160 no there were no identifier marks in a person's fingerprints 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:32.440 that would give you any clue as to that person's 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:37.440 intelligence or genetic background. However, he did figure out that 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.280 there were a lot of differences and that people didn't 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:44.240 weren't likely to have the same fingerprints. Yeah, unlikely, in 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:48.160 the order of one in sixty four billion, that's pretty unlikely. 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:53.240 So in eight we get the first use of fingerprints 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:58.439 in a criminal investigation on an official level. Uh one vs. 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.960 Tech and I I'm sure I butchered his last name. 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:04.600 Who was a police officer in Argentina used them in 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.800 a murder investigation. It was actually a really tragic case, 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:13.400 but the discovery meant that he was able to solve 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:17.120 this mystery and prove that the person that was believed 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:22.040 to have been the murderer was in fact not the killer. So, uh, 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:24.200 not only was it the first use, but it was 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:28.560 a pretty dramatic example of it. Now, between we're gonna 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:32.000 skip to nineteen eighteen, but between the late nineteenth century 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:35.520 and the early twentieth century he started to see fingerprints 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:40.280 get adopted into various legal organizations all around the world. 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:42.959 The United Kingdom and the United States were leading the way, 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:45.760 but it was all over the place. So by nineteen 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:49.560 eighteen you have Edmund Lekard who says that you only 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:53.400 need twelve points of similarity between an individual's fingerprint and 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:58.080 a target fingerprint to serve as a positive identification. Now 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:01.720 you may have heard about those twelve points of singularity, 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:04.480 that this is somehow like a legal thing, that if 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:06.800 you were able to meet those twelve points of singularity, 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.200 you have the legal basis to say this person did this. 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:15.840 Uh not necessarily a legal definition at all. In fact, 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:20.640 UH countries have very very different ways of saying whether 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.520 or not a fingerprint is a valid match for another one, 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.280 and some, like the United States, do not have a 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:30.800 minimum number of resemblances that need to be there in 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:33.160 order for you to call it a match. Now, usually 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:37.959 law enforcement agencies rely on experts who give their expert 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.680 opinion and therefore putting their own reputation on the line 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.200 as to whether or not something matches. And of course, 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:48.079 now these days we rely very heavily on digital information, 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:52.840 which with very very complex and intelligent algorithms that will 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.760 that will do some really interesting like work. Yeah, and 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:59.200 so with that, you know, the the level of a 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.240 confidence grows quite a bit. So, uh, just so you 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:06.720 know that twelve points of similarity not necessarily a legal standard. 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:11.000 Nineteen four that's when Congress enabled had an act that 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:14.280 established the new division for the Federal Bureau of Investigation 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:17.959 also known as the FBI. Uh And this division was 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:21.440 called the Identification Division. I bet you can guess what 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.840 it did. So it became kind of a centralized fingerprint 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:28.960 file for the entire country. So not it wasn't necessarily 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:33.000 uh standard procedure for every law enforcement agency out there 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.760 to send a copy to the FBI, But that's kind 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:39.840 of what started to happen, so that, uh, there could 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.720 be this sort of cooperation between different departments which often 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.800 wouldn't have any communication with each other. Sure sure, by 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:49.280 nineteen forty six, the FBI would have processed more than 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:53.760 a hundred million fingerprint cards. Yeah, not just processed, but 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:56.760 they did that by hand, right right, and it would 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:02.679 be two million by one, So two million physical cards 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:05.920 with fingerprints on them. I mean, just imagine how many, like, 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:08.360 how how much storage you need just for me, it's two. 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:13.200 I can't even I can't even imagine it. But by 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:18.640 the FBI introduced the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System or 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:23.080 if SO. It's the largest fingerprint database in the world 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:27.080 and its computer automated. It takes about twenty seven minutes 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.199 for the system to comb through every single file in 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.640 its database to find out if there is a potential match. 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:37.600 During a criminal investigation, it's different. If it's a civil case, 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.400 it's actually like more than an hour. But for criminal investigation, 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.280 for all the criminal files that are storing this database, 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:46.839 twenty seven minutes from the time you actually input the 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:51.400 suspects fingerprint. I imagine that's a lot faster than whatever 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.600 in turn they sent down to the basement. Well yeah, 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:56.600 because I mean you would have to narrow down the 0:12:56.640 --> 0:13:01.440 person quite a bit before you could ever start comparing. Right, 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:05.280 this is a man, so cut out all the women 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.120 and then go like there are seventy million of them 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.600 down there. Uh yeah, that would be that would be 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.440 a daunting task. So in the digital age, we can 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.040 actually analyze this stuff way better than we ever could, 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:19.840 Like you don't have to use the naked eye anymore 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.280 and try and find those little ridges and stuff. You 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:26.600 can actually rely very heavily upon computer systems, and once 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:31.280 we started getting those computer systems in place, they pretty 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:35.800 soon thereafter became um commercially available. Yeah. Yeah, we had 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:39.040 some fingerprint verification systems that have been around for a 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.920 few decades now. On the consumer level, they've only been 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:44.920 available fairly recently. And you might be thinking, oh, yeah, yeah, 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:47.840 the iPhone five s because it has that that fingerprint 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.440 scanner where you can use that to log into your phone. 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.840 That's the first smartphone to ever use that, right, Nope, no, no, 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:57.680 there's actually a mobile device. The first mobile device that 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.280 I found was a one that dated from two thousand three, 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:03.760 the H and Boy. The name of this is phenomenal. 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:07.520 HP names their products in such catchy ways. It's the 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:15.120 HP I pack, I p a Q P PC pocket PC. 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:18.560 Oh yeah, it just rolls off the tongue. Yeah, it 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:20.480 really is. I mean, with a name like that, how 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:25.000 could you resist I phone my phone? So at any rate, 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.800 this was the first mobile device to incorporate finger scanning technology, 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:30.320 but it was also sort of the edge of a 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:34.080 boom for the technology. UM it was being extended for 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:36.000 for wide consumer use. At the time. I mean, you know, 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.200 keyboards and mice had them, laptops had them. You could 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:42.000 buy a USB scanner for multipurpose use and encrypt everything 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:46.200 with your fingerprint, right, you could end up creating, for example, 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:48.680 with a copier. You could end up telling people, all right, 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.400 this group of folks are authorized to make copies. Anyone 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.800 who's not on this list cannot make copies. And you 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:56.560 would walk up to make copies. And if you weren't 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.480 on that list, then I guess no fun Christmas party 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:03.520 Shenanigans for you. But but but also opening this up 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.360 to the consumer market meant that a lot of people 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:09.920 started finding the flaws in the technology. Oh yes. In 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.920 December five, clarks And University researchers announced that they could 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:20.240 fool of the world's fingerprint scanners using an incredibly sophisticated, 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:26.440 expensive substance. Yeah, they could just go out to toy 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:30.000 store and buy some Plato and essentially make a copy 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:33.080 of a fingerprint and put it on any optical scanner. 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:35.000 And we'll talk about the optical scanners in a little bit. 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:39.920 And it worked really well. So that gave people some 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.080 pause and thought, maybe we should come up with something 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:47.080 besides optical scanners too, because fingerprint identification is a great idea, 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:49.240 but if it's if it's that easy to fool, we 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.640 have to find a different way of measuring it. So 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:55.680 then there was a totally different expose on September one, 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:59.640 two thousand and six, when our beloved MythBusters decided to 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.760 do a fingerprint scanner scam of their own. They decided 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:04.360 to see if they could fool one, and this one 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.560 was a little different. It wasn't just an optical scanner. 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:10.160 It was supposed to also detect sweat from pores in 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.000 the fingertips. Okay, so so you can't just use a 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:16.320 lump of plato or good photograph. You have to have 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.520 something that sweats has to have to otherwise it's never 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:22.320 gonna work. So what did they do. They made a 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.880 latext copy of a fingerprint and then they did a 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:31.800 very sophisticated thing in order to simulate sweat. Yeah, and 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:37.000 it worked. So if you can't play dough it, lick it, 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:39.960 I guess is the moral of that story. I think 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:42.480 I think that that's really what we all should learn 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.920 from this today. Probably so anyway, they're still seeing this 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:48.680 kind of technology being rolled out. But it's not just 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:52.320 an optical scanners, and even optical scanners have gotten a 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:54.760 lot better than they were back in two thousand five. 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.120 We'll be right back with more digital fingerprinting after these 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:11.040 short messages. All right, I had just talked about optical scanners, 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:12.840 and those are one of the ones that are the 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:16.560 easiest to explain and uh and fairly common even today. 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.480 In fact, not my work computer, but my home computer 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.840 has my home laptop has a little optical scanner. So 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:25.399 if I want to log in, I can just swipe 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.560 my finger across it. So optical scanners use something that 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:33.479 is found in digital cameras and camcorders called a charge 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:37.399 coupled device or c c D. Now, essentially that's a 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:41.159 light sensor. It's got an array of things called photo sites. 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:45.520 Now that's light sensitive diodes, and it's works pretty much 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:48.280 the way you would imagine. So photons, those little particles 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.720 of light when they make a collision with these photo sites, 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:55.720 it generates a little electrical signal and those can then 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.840 be compiled and converted into a digital image. And it's 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:02.080 essentially the same process that digital cameras used to take pictures. 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.639 And here's the thing though, So if I put my 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.600 finger on an optical scanner, I'm actually blocking light. And 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:14.160 unless you happen to be e T the extraterrestrial, your 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:17.359 finger probably isn't emitting light. So how the heck is 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.879 it getting this picture? Well, it uses a flash, yeah, 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:22.840 except in this case of flash is probably like a 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:25.760 single l ED or for some scanners maybe an array 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:29.439 of LEDs light emitting diodes in other words, and so 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:33.399 that provides the light that is necessary to take this image. 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:37.280 And uh, then the c c D creates an image 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.920 of your fingertip. However, it's a little funky. It's inverted, right. 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.080 The dark areas are going to represent the ridges that 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.919 the raised portions of your fingertip, and the light areas 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.120 are going to represent the values. Yeah, so it's kind 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:52.000 of like looking at a negative, a photo negative. Uh. 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:55.400 And it makes sense because stuff that's reflecting more light 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.359 is going to create a lot a bigger electrical signal, 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:02.639 thus creating that you know, the charge couple device is 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:05.680 going to make that into a darker portion the valleys. 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:07.480 The light is not as much of it's going to 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:10.080 reflect back, so you get a weaker electrical signal. That's 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.480 why it gets lighter. Uh So, if you were to 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:17.760 scan your finger and UM and it tells you that 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:20.960 it's a good scan, because most of these devices also 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.520 have some sort of fail safe in them that will 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:28.480 alert you if there wasn't enough enough differentiation between the 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:30.560 dark and light parts. Right, that the same way that 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:33.879 you're that your camera UM sometimes will take a picture 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:37.120 that's that's overdeveloped or underdeveloped. The same thing can happen here. Yeah, 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:39.879 So if you wanted to, like if you most of 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:42.560 the software has let error function built into it, so 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:45.199 it can tell and it will ask you to scan again, right, 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:47.040 So then you would scan again. So if it's the 0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:49.639 first time you're using it, then you would also end 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.040 up creating a profile in some way. It might not 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:54.840 be you, it might be an administrator, but something that 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:58.080 links the fingerprint to who you are and what access 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:02.359 you are supposed to have will have then on subsequent uses, 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:04.639 what will happen is that when you scan your finger 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.760 it will go through its database of of identities that 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:12.560 have fingerprints attached to them look for you. If you're there, 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.240 then it will authorize you for whatever use you're allowed. So, 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:20.240 for instance, on my home computer, I've given myself very 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:23.240 strict restrictions because I am not to be trusted. Uh, 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:25.720 and so all I'm able to do is play a 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:30.840 pirated copy of Flappy Bird. That's not true, I don't 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.680 have Flappy Bird. But at any rate, you know, that's 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:37.800 the basic You know, that's the basic procedure, right, And 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:41.320 and so if your fingerprint is not found in that database, 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:43.960 you get an error. So either you have to swipe 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:46.640 it again or or scan it again if it's not swipe. 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:49.919 All depends on what kind of scanner you're at, or 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:52.800 you end up saying, uh, the jig is up, you 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:55.920 got me, I don't really belong here, and then you 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:59.840 run away. Um. So that that's the basic thing. And 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:04.360 what they're looking for. It's not the entire pattern of 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:08.600 your fingertip. It's looking for for a specific minutia about it, 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:11.560 certain types of patterns and it. And it depends on 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:14.440 the software that the scanner is using. Um. It might 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:18.480 be the places where the ridges converge, um or split 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:21.239 apart at the end, or um any any other kind 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:23.560 of detail. It's going to be unique to you. Right. 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:25.960 So in other words, all has to do is say, hey, 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:29.280 there are these three points on this fingertip, uh that 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:32.400 are unique that that's all I'm concerned about. And if 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:35.439 the fingerprint that scan has those three points, I know 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:38.120 it's this person and they can be let through by 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:40.480 constraining on the minutia, then you really cut down on 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:43.000 all the rest of the data that's necessary to have 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:46.160 a verification. Right, you can kind of throw everything else 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:49.080 out and concentrate on that and right. Uh and and 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:51.400 they're pretty good, like we said, though they can sometimes 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:55.080 be fooled by a really high quality picture of a fingerprint. Right, 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:58.560 So what if you instead of looking at a picture, 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:01.960 you were to make sure the fingerprint in some other way, 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:08.480 such as capacitance right, Because capacitense touch screens are totally 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:11.840 a thing. Yeah, So it's very similar to what a 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:14.240 regular capacityans touch screen is. So you know, there are 0:22:14.280 --> 0:22:16.440 different ways of doing touch screens as well. There's somewhere 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:19.080 you have to use pressure. With the benefit of that 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:22.000 is you could be wearing gloves and still work a 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:26.560 pressure version. The downside is that when people are expected 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:31.200 to apply pressure to delicate material, they sometimes destroy it completely, right, 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:35.880 or it'll at least decrease the lifespan of that object 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:41.440 by quite a bit. Capacitance, however, uses weak electric fields. 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:45.480 So when you make contact with a screen, a touch screen, 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:49.520 that's using capacitance. See, you're a conductor. I don't mean 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:51.760 that you conduct trains, Nor do I mean that you 0:22:51.880 --> 0:22:54.920 Maybe you do, Maybe you do, Maybe you do. Maybe 0:22:54.960 --> 0:22:58.159 you conduct orchestras. Maybe you conduct orchestras on a train. 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:00.239 I don't know. But what I'm talking about, you do 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:02.960 call us because that sounds fascinating, kind of cool. Actually, 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:06.880 But now I'm talking about electrical conductivity. So we can 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:09.600 conduct electricity. It's not great for us to have a 0:23:09.640 --> 0:23:12.400 lot of it, but tiny amounts don't hurt us. Sure, 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:14.800 And as it turns out, the ridges and valleys on 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:19.159 your fingers conduct slightly different amounts of electricity. This blows 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:21.880 my mind. I mean to think that the raised parts 0:23:21.920 --> 0:23:24.720 of your fingerprint and the valleys of your fingerprint are 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:30.439