Why Dead Fingers (Usually) Can't Unlock a Phone?

Pedro_P

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In March, two detectives went to a funeral home and asked to see a body. The reason? They wanted to unlock the man's phone and needed his fingerprints, according to news reports. And though the detectives were granted access to the man's body, they couldn't unlock the phone.
The man, Linus Phillip, was shot and killed by a police officer outside a Wawa convenience store in Largo, Florida. Detectives were looking for information to help them investigate Phillip's death as well as information about a separate investigation involving drugs, according to the Tampa Bay  Times.
What the detectives did is legal, as Forbesreported, but it certainly raises ethical questions. And given that the detectives were unsuccessful, it resurfaces a science question as well: Do you need to be alive for your fingertips to unlock your phone?
In fact, it gets more difficult to unlock a phone using fingertips the longer a person has been dead, said Anil Jain, a professor of computer science and engineering who has spent years working on fingerprint recognition at Michigan State University and one of the authors of the "Handbook of Fingerprint Recognition".
This is because, on most smartphones, fingerprint identification works through electrical conductance, Jain told Live Science. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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pallaviachrekar

Wow, thats an interesting piece of info. Thanks for sharing!

soothsayer

tHANKS. tHAT IS NEW INFO INDEED!

GrimReaper

Now I can die in peace!

Useful share, interesting read!

Mousetrap

That's fascinating. I didn't stop to think that fingerprint sensors might involve some kind of electrical conductance. While that makes it tamper-proof, I wonder if it'll cause trouble to the family members of a deceased person,if they need to access the phone for any reason.

Bvit123

I would've thought heat sensor along with finger prints were the combination used, this is good info to know Pedro .. enlightening

parivijesh100

Why dead persons only, thus happens on old person also with advancement if age. The finger tips either gets worn out or becomes flatter causing thus. This often found in India for older couples using their Aadhaar based verification.