Motorola Developing Pill and Tattoo Authentication Methods

redletterdave writes "In trying to solve the 'mechanical mismatch' between humans and electronics — particularly wearables — special projects chief Regina Dugan unveiled two new projects currently in development at Google's Motorola Mobility centered on rethinking authentication methodology, including electronic tattoos and ingestible pills. Of the pill, which Dugan called her 'first superpower,' she described it as an 'inside-out potato battery' that when swallowed, the acids in one's stomach serve as the electrolyte to power an 18-bit ECG-like signal that essentially turns one's body into an authentication token. 'It means my arms are like wires and my hands are like alligator clips [so] when I touch my phone, my computer, my door, I'm authenticated,' Dugan said. 'This is not science fiction.'"

Temporary token

[Anonymous Coward]

So I have to check my poop all the time for my auth token?

Eat it again? Renegotiate?

How do you authenticate yourself without the "inside out potato" - not science fiction maybe, but rather far out research - I like it ! :)

Re:Automatic authentication by contact sounds bad

[FooAtWFU]

It also sounds vulnerable to replay attacks. I can have you touch something that secretly records the signal, then play it back to the actual input device. Seems like a password you're always broadcasting from your skin...

Re:Tattoo Authentication Methods

[jeffmeden]

This would be voluntary. That is a pretty big difference.

At first. It would be voluntary at first.
There are many people in power in this world today who would love to be able to tattoo some sort of ID on people from birth, or embed an RFID in their bodies at birth, and so on, so they can be tracked everywhere they go (with greater ease than we already are with goddamn fucking cameras everywhere. NO. JUST. NO.
Yes, I understand the article is talking about something like a henna tattoo or a sticker you wear.. but it would set a dangerous precedent. The line has to be drawn here, no farther!

Some perspective du jour...

Rewind 50 years:
"You mean those fuckers are going to require that they have my picture just so I can get a drivers license? Hell no! Let's draw the line in the sand! The MAN already knows too much about me, and it would set an unthinkable precedent!"

Fast forward 5 years (maybe less):
"Oh, wait, you mean it will make my email and phone and bank account basically un-hackable in the face of wave after wave of cybertheft? Yeah, well, ok let's draw the line just a little further out"