Just have a fingerprint entry system – you can’t “loose” your fingerprints and you would be able to add / remove people to the system

As laptops now have fingerprint readers its not like they are expensive any more

You can lose fingerprints temporarily, just rub sodium hydroxide pellets.

Not something that the average person does on a daily basis tho

I cut my hand, across several fingers. The finger print reader on my laptop didn't recognise me...

Did you have that accident at the poker tournament?

Yes but if we have to carry our phone everywhere then it does make us very trackable. The police could use the phone itself to track us. Most of the time when I go out I rarely take my phone with me. Though technically we do leave our DNA everywhere but it is a not a good way to track us right now, though blood hounds can use it.

I do carry my phone with me, except down the pub. Chances are, if I don't answer my phone you'll find me in the Baker's Arms.

I really don't care if I'm "trackable". I'm far more worried about my ID being secure. If I ever do a bank job, I'll use a stolen phone and wear gloves and contacts.

ID is a really strange concept. Phones, cash cards, passports, key cards, forum and on-line gaming logins. If you abandon ID, then you're restricted to a pre-industrial life style with the added modern restriction of not being able to cross international borders.

I like my ID. It's mine, and I want to keep it.

Two words:

Power

Cut

If you have a power cut then the locks won't work. Batteries will last for a few hours but not for days. Which means you'll have to carry a key anyway just in case.

Which makes this rather pointless.

Hmm. Assuming the door is a receiver rather than a transmitter, it'll last an awful lot longer than that. You can power a transistor radio off a watch battery for ages, let alone a decent sized cell that you could build into a door lock. The trick is more the actual locking mechanism. If it's a physical bolt, you either have to have the juice left to power the motor to retract it, or you have to have some ingenious switch system that essentially has the bolt closed on a taught spring, then releases it to open. If your locks are electromagnetic and you have a power cut, the problem will be all your doors are immediately open, rather than them being locked shut. Which is a safer system in the event of fire etc. but isn't exactly secure.

It's tricky but it's not beyond the wit of engineering. And I rather do think it'll be high on the 'things we have to test' list before the things actually go into production.

You could always use a physical level to actually retract the bolts. The lock could be secured electronically but would need a handle to pull back the bolt. My one concern is that with electronic locks, it would only be a matter of time before a cracker with a couple of laptops would get the code to open the door. Beckham lost a BMW or two because of its electronic security. They waited in his garage and scanned the airwaves while he used the electronic key. The same could happen with the iKey.

if it was me, I'd me more concerned about that than them filching a car.

Jon

Yes but will the same technology be used to secure our houses? That was my point. It only takes a modicum of knowledge and a couple of laptops to crack such a system. Yes much worse could happen if you they get access to your home using the same technology.

Remember, this is Apple. It won't actually unlock your door until version 3 arrives, but in the meantime it'll do other stuff really well for more money than you would normally expect to pay.

You can sniff the signal between card machines, you can do the same with this. Is it really worth risking the contents of your home??

what happens if you get your phone gets locked down? do you lose the right to access your house?