Hackers Protest Biometric Data Use by Publishing German Government Official’s Fingerprint!

Posted by Alex in Crime & Law, Politics, Science & Tech on April 14, 2008 at 6:52 pm


To protest the use of biometric data, a hacker club in Germany called the Chaos Computer Club has published the fingerprint of German Home Secretary Wolfgang Schäuble.

There’s more:

The hackers go even further than reproducing Schäuble’s fingerprint; the magazine also includes a thin film that can be taped over your finger to deceive fingerprint readers with Schäuble’s fingerprint. "We recommend that you use the film whenever you’re fingerprint is taken, such as when you enter the US, stop over at Heathrow , or even when you touch bottles at your local super market — just to be on the safe side," Engling says.

The CCC says that the fingerprint it published is genuine. It says it got the fingerprint from a sympathizer who took it from a glass the Home Secretary had been drinking from during a podium discussion. The hackers then saved the fingerprint and created the dummy fingerprints from it in a meticulous process that took all night. A total of 4000 copies of the magazine were printed, more than 2000 of which are currently being sent to members of the CCC.

Link - Thanks tim!



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COMMENT

8 comments to "Hackers Protest Biometric Data Use by Publishing German Government Official’s Fingerprint!"

  1. sarahstallard
    April 14th, 2008 at 7:38 pm

    good article, but sadly not able to read it with that annoying ad flashing green, making me feel sick.

    Are those ads legal? Don’t they trigger epileptic fits?

    I think I’ll have to lay off this site for a while….

  2. jessleigh
    April 14th, 2008 at 9:05 pm

    Okay. The magazine included a “thin film” that you apparantly tape (?!?) on your finger. They encourage everyone to use his fingerprint each time they go through a fingerprint scanner. I’m so confused. You mean, it would not be noticed by someone taking your fingerprints? Or is this just with digital scanners? Who in the world has digital fingerprint scanners? I’ve never seen one in my life. Of course, I am from a small town in NC.

  3. medussa
    April 14th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

    This is excellent! When I lived there, they had all they newest hi-tech gear to invade your privacy and track terrorists, none of which they successfully caught. And if yopu questioned their means, you were instantly credited with terrorist sympathizing…
    This is first class.

  4. Alannah
    April 14th, 2008 at 10:13 pm

    “Engling says he is not worried that the Chaos Computer Club may have violated German laws on privacy by publishing the fingerprint. As he points out, the Home Ministry itself argued when electronic passports were launched that there is hardly any difference between a passport photo and a digital fingerprint. The club says that it also checked into the legality of the matter before publication: “Our lawyer says there is no way to go against the publication of the fingerprint in Die Datenschleuder.”

    Good point. I’d love to follow the case.

  5. Christophe
    April 14th, 2008 at 10:54 pm

    @jessleigh : it’s quite common now, you could find them, for example, on Lenovo laptops.

    I like the CCC. They really show us that there no such thing as digital security.

  6. ted
    April 15th, 2008 at 7:13 am

    I think they need to get his pee, so they can distribute his DNA now.

  7. Sid Morrison
    April 15th, 2008 at 3:44 pm

    Ausgezeichnet! More power to them! The rising obsession to collect and maintain biometric databases on everyone for even frivolous reasons is pretty frightening. It not inconceivable that in the futrue (if not already!) it will be possible to clone fingerprints and leave phony evidence at crime scenes to implicate others. The day is coming if it’s not here yet.

    Í know of a dentist who thought it would be “high tech” to sign people in at her office via a thumbprint scanner. Now they have absoluutely no real NEED for such security (what’s wrong with just telling the receptionist you have arrived?), but now they have a thumbprint database on all the patients. I don’t think they intend anything sinister themselves, but ne’er-do-wells could certainly know the dentist keeps such info and steal it for some purpose (breaking into a biometric-controlled military area, falsifying identity, &c.).

  8. JakeTheSnake
    April 16th, 2008 at 1:14 am

    can you say “Burn” I love seeing people screw with “the man”


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