News Summary: College tests fingerprint technology
Goodbye to wallets? Technology tested in SD identifies buyers by fingerprints _ with a pulse
FINGERPRINT TEST: Two shops on the School of Mines and Technology in South Dakota are performing one of the world's first experiments in biocryptology — a mix of biometrics (using physical traits for identification) and cryptology (the study of encoding private information).
HOW IT WORKS: Students at the Rapid City school can buy a bag of potato chips with a machine that non-intrusively detects their pulse to make sure the transaction is legitimate.
THE PURPOSE: Researchers figure their technology would provide a critical safeguard against a morbid scenario sometimes found in spy movies in which a thief removes someone else's finger to fool the scanner.
