U.S. senator: iPhone 5S fingerprint tech raises privacy questionsSeptember 20, 2013 - 22:07 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - A senior U.S. senator believes the fingerprint recognition technology featured in Apple's new iPhone 5S raises "substantial privacy questions", BBC News reports. Senator Al Franken, chairman of the influential Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, has written to Apple boss Tim Cook explaining his security concerns. After stealing someone's thumbprint, hackers could "impersonate you for the rest of your life," he wrote. Apple has yet to comment on the letter. Mr Franken wants answers to a number of questions, such as: whether the fingerprint data stored locally on the mobile phone chip in encrypted form could ever be stolen and converted into digital or visual form that would be usable by hackers or fraudsters; whether the iPhone 5S transmits any diagnostic information about the Touch ID system back to Apple or any third parties; how well customer fingerprint data will be protected and kept private; the exact legal status of such fingerprint data. Mr Franken has asked Apple to answers his questions within a month of receiving his letter. Meanwhile, hackers are gearing up to try to crack Apple's Touch ID technology. The website istouchidhackedyet.com, set up by Nick DePetrillo and Robert Graham, lists a number of people offering rewards - including one for $10,000 from IO Capital, a venture capital company - "to the first person who can reliably and repeatedly break into an iPhone 5S by lifting prints (like from a beer mug)." Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Biden honors resilience of Armenian people on April 24 U.S. President Joe Biden has issued a statement on the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Ex-Karabakh leader moved to solitary confinement cell in Baku, his son says David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. Macron says France commemorates 109th anniv. of Armenian genocide Today France commemorates the 109th anniversary of the Armenian genocide of 1915, Macron says. Freedom House concerned by mounting reports of police violence in Armenia Freedom House urged Armenian authorities to investigate this pattern of excessive force and inhumane treatment. |