RE: The Fascinating Fingerprint Technology
I didn't know that about Francis Galton. Interesting.
About 2 weeks ago I was out with a girl and she tried to unlock her phone using her fingerprint 5 times and then had to wait for a countdown of ~ 3 min because of all the wrong trials.
I use pattern recognition because of such reasons. A pattern is a pattern. A number is a number. A fingerprint can give a wrong signal.
But I think the best tool we have is the social one. All these passwords can be beaten out of you with a hammer. But 'social security' can simply say "this value transfer was illegal...funds returned" or something. I'm talking of course about money, but I guess it could be applied more broadly.
I really liked the last two sections cos I was thinking about that while I was reading the article, and then not only you mentioned it but you answered it using science!
I find the finger print unlock pretty a fast way to unlock a device. Though it has a downside, you are stuck when your finger is wet or you are putting on a glove. I think a should surfer may spy your pattern and unlock your phone later. That sort of thing can't work on fingerprint. I use both password and fingerprint to lock my device. If the fingerprint is acting up, I just type in the 4-digit password.