Pendragon
Member
Nobody has even addressed the whole issue of the metal storm tech.
If you dont know, its a barrel full of bullets that are fired electronically.
You buy the barrel assembly and have 6-10 shots - you shoot them and then you need to replace the barrel assembly.
The idea is you can give someone a gun that they cannot reload easily and since it is electronically fired, perhaps it can be electronically be made not to fire.
How does one gain proficiency with such a gun?
What if you need to reload in a firefight?
What if it jams? There is no provision for clearing a jam.
I don't care what kind of biometric tech they use, if there is one thing I have learned recently, it is that biometric security is in its absolute infancy.
I work on a project that is installing finger print readers on all the PCs at a large financial institution.
At most places, people log into their PC with a username and password.
The password can be forgotten, overheard and stolen or given away.
The fingerprint takes the place of the password - sort of. The biometric system is actually a middle man that IDs you by your fingerprints - it then has a list of all your passwords and uses them appropriately once it is satisfied that you are yourself.
Our system has the capability of using fingerprints, iris scans and facial scans (think web cam).
Aproximately 0.1% of the people there are completely unable to use their fingerprints. Some are guitar players and gardners with calouses. OThers are just regular people who cannot get a consistent finger print read.
Additionally, everyone who uses a biometric system has to be "enrolled" meaning we take your digital prints so we have something to match against you when you try to log in.
The problem is - when they first started, they had a lot of people enrolling employees and their fingerprints. Many of the people conducting the enrollments had no idea how to capture digital finger prints and so many of the initial captures are so poor that a lot of people cannot get a good enough match to log in (until I re-enroll them, many go from 10% success to over 90% success with their prints).
This process is the same with iris scans ans face scans and I presume it will be the same with some sort of grip measurement.
Guess what?
Biometric measurements CHANGE.
They change due to injuries, illness, stress, weight gain, chemical changes (pregnancy, etc) and so on.
If you are to use a smart gun, you must be enrolled on the gun. So must your spouse and anyone else you may want to use it.
So what then if you want to remove a user?
Who manages this?
This is so fraught with peril, I can barely sit here.
Oh - and think about this, when scanning finger prints, which are the easiet form of biometric data to acquire and process, many computers, even Pentium 4 class machines take up to 5 seconds to recognize a print and let someone in.
I have not even mentioned how people thwart these systems regularly. Have yet to see a false positive (my finger logging in as your finger). But False Negatives abound.
A lot of people try too hard - they use the very tip of their finger on the sensor, or they touch it for about a second, like its a button or they go at weird angles, etc.
The point is - you can't just put this stuff out there and hope it works. None of it works anywhere near well enough to put it in a gun.
If you dont know, its a barrel full of bullets that are fired electronically.
You buy the barrel assembly and have 6-10 shots - you shoot them and then you need to replace the barrel assembly.
The idea is you can give someone a gun that they cannot reload easily and since it is electronically fired, perhaps it can be electronically be made not to fire.
How does one gain proficiency with such a gun?
What if you need to reload in a firefight?
What if it jams? There is no provision for clearing a jam.
I don't care what kind of biometric tech they use, if there is one thing I have learned recently, it is that biometric security is in its absolute infancy.
I work on a project that is installing finger print readers on all the PCs at a large financial institution.
At most places, people log into their PC with a username and password.
The password can be forgotten, overheard and stolen or given away.
The fingerprint takes the place of the password - sort of. The biometric system is actually a middle man that IDs you by your fingerprints - it then has a list of all your passwords and uses them appropriately once it is satisfied that you are yourself.
Our system has the capability of using fingerprints, iris scans and facial scans (think web cam).
Aproximately 0.1% of the people there are completely unable to use their fingerprints. Some are guitar players and gardners with calouses. OThers are just regular people who cannot get a consistent finger print read.
Additionally, everyone who uses a biometric system has to be "enrolled" meaning we take your digital prints so we have something to match against you when you try to log in.
The problem is - when they first started, they had a lot of people enrolling employees and their fingerprints. Many of the people conducting the enrollments had no idea how to capture digital finger prints and so many of the initial captures are so poor that a lot of people cannot get a good enough match to log in (until I re-enroll them, many go from 10% success to over 90% success with their prints).
This process is the same with iris scans ans face scans and I presume it will be the same with some sort of grip measurement.
Guess what?
Biometric measurements CHANGE.
They change due to injuries, illness, stress, weight gain, chemical changes (pregnancy, etc) and so on.
If you are to use a smart gun, you must be enrolled on the gun. So must your spouse and anyone else you may want to use it.
So what then if you want to remove a user?
Who manages this?
This is so fraught with peril, I can barely sit here.
Oh - and think about this, when scanning finger prints, which are the easiet form of biometric data to acquire and process, many computers, even Pentium 4 class machines take up to 5 seconds to recognize a print and let someone in.
I have not even mentioned how people thwart these systems regularly. Have yet to see a false positive (my finger logging in as your finger). But False Negatives abound.
A lot of people try too hard - they use the very tip of their finger on the sensor, or they touch it for about a second, like its a button or they go at weird angles, etc.
The point is - you can't just put this stuff out there and hope it works. None of it works anywhere near well enough to put it in a gun.