Fingerprints and the iPhone 5s

Senator Al Franken has some privacy concerns with Apple’s new iPhone:

I am writing regarding Apple’s recent inclusion of a fingerprint reader on the new iPhone 5S. Apple has long been a leading innovator of mobile technology; I myself own an iPhone. At the same time, while Apple’s new fingerprint reader, Touch ID, may improve certain aspects of mobile security, it also raises substantial privacy questions for Apple and for anyone who may use your products. In writing you on this issue, I am seeking to establish a public record of how Apple has addressed these issues internally and in its rollout of this technology to millions of my constituents and other Americans.

This is an important discussion, but perhaps the government should be answering privacy questions as well as asking them. Identify theft via fake fingerprints becomes an issue only if fingerprints, like social security numbers, become a routine method of identification. If fingerprint readers in consumer devices don’t work reliably, aren’t convenient, and aren’t secure, consumers simply won’t use them.

On the other hand, imagine how much say you’ll have in the matter if the government decides your fingerprints are a good way to identify you before you board a flight. If that seems far-fetched, consider that you already have to choose between being irradiated or molested every time you fly as part of the TSA’s security theater. Fingerprinting is already required for many jobs and in some states to obtain a driver’s license or purchase a gun.

If you’re worried about Apple opening a Pandora’s box, remember that it’s usually the government that creates a self-aware supercomputer and puts it in charge of all the weapons.