[Mindjack Release] September 18, 2003

[Donald Melanson]

Mindjack Release - http://www.mindjack.com
September 18, 2003


Current Feature:

The Myth of Fingerprints
by Ian Dawe

Hamlet beings with the words "Who goes there?" Taken out of the play's
psychological/mythic context, the phrase is actually an elegant expression
of the basic duty of any security device, and it even carries connotations
of that trademark security guard "politeness". The guard isn't telling the
stranger to get away, nor is he shooting first and asking questions later.
His first duty is simple identification. After that, he can decide on a
course of action.

All security devices have this basic function: identify who's allowed past a
certain point and who's not, and then act accordingly. Even they key to your
front door is an identification device (albeit one that performs both basic
security functions).

Technology has had, and continues to have a dramatic impact on security, but
until recently (i.e. the last century) all the technological upgrades
focused around the second part of that equation. Instead of better ways to
tell "who goes there", we simply got bigger doors, bigger walls, bigger
guns.

-- continuted at: http://www.mindjack.com/feature/fingerprints.html