Week 4: A Research Proposal

My research subject is a bit of a work in progress still – it’s a little broad and may require further narrowing down – but now I have a main topic in what I’d like to do: I’d like to conduct research on Apple’s bio-authentication methods, specifically Face ID and Touch ID. Although I’m focusing on Apple’s technologies (mostly because it’s what I have access to and am familiar with), the fact that bio-authentication is present on essentially every single modern smartphone of any platform made in the past few years is a testament to its significance as a topic. Additionally, I’d also like to touch on public perception of trust in these authentication methods and conduct a survey – do we truly trust biometrics, or are we trading privacy for convenience?

In a nutshell: How do Apple’s bio-authentication methods work, and why do we rely on them?


I’ll be conducting my research by experimenting and surveying people.

As for the experiments, they’ll primarily be on the criteria necessary for a successful scan. Due to there being two main authentication methods involved, there will need to be two experiments: one with Face ID on an iPhone 13 Pro Max, and one with Touch ID on an iPad Air 4.

As for the survey, I'll be asking four questions:
  1. Do you use bio-authentication on any of your electronic devices? If so, why?
    1. If not, why?
  2. Do you trust that your biometric information is secure on your device? If so, please explain why.
    1. If not, why?
  3. Do you trust the manufacturer of your device with your information in the cloud? If so, why?
    1. If not, why?
  4. Do you believe that it is worth sacrificing some privacy for the sake of convenience? Keep in mind that most people are not criminals and are not sought after by government and surveillance agencies.
In terms of results I’m expecting, I’d expect that those two authentication technologies rely on a combination of features rather than just one of them; I use these devices daily after all, and occasionally it unlocks even if it’s an imperfect scan - like when I brush my teeth, have damp fingers, or have my face partially covered up by a pillow.

For the survey, I would expect that most people do in fact use biometrics on their smart devices to unlock them. However, I would like to learn if people only trust these technologies because they’re easy to use.

It's going to be a bit of a challenge finding peer-reviewed resources, however, because all of this is relatively new.

See you next week! Over and out.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 5: Improvements

Image
And here we go! Week 5! Let's start with some good news: my mom is doing significantly better! She's much more lively now and more like her usual self, although I still have to help her around the house because she gets tired if she walks too much or goes up and down the stairs - I can't blame her, especially considering she had no choice but to stay in bed for at least a month. Still, I can't even describe how glad I am about her recovery. Now, for the bad news: it's been hectic lately (with taking care of my mom, planning a move to a new house, helping my brother and my dad take care of things, etc) and as such I honestly haven't had any time to work on my project, much less any school work in general. However, because of my mother's recovery things are beginning to settle down once again, so hopefully I'll be able to get back at it very soon. It's not much of an update, but it's an update nonetheless. To hold you over for the time being, here...
Read more

Week 2: Tracks

Image
This past week, I admittedly haven't looked much at the code to build the bat game off of. I love computers, and I'm majoring for Applied Computing as well as potentially doing some IT classes on the side next semester, but coding terrifies me – for the time being. However, all I need to do is really just tell myself to take it easy and go step-by-step.  I've always been more of an arts/music guy, so for my first step I've been working on the soundtrack for the game! It gives me a good mental starting point, and it helps to have assets (graphics, sounds, and so on) ready to use and be implemented into the game once coding begins. This is Logic Pro, my music software of choice since I was 13. Each row of those green rectangles (tracks) is a different instrument - some can be drums, some can be synths, and so on. For this bat game project, it's 8 bit noises sampled from a NES game console! I'd let you listen, but it's not done yet :) So this is what an average...
Read more

Week 7: Bat!

Image
Hey everyone! Before I begin this week's post, I do apologize for not posting last week – it was another rough one, but things are looking good once again, and my mom is in great shape and is now well on her way to recovery. Thank you all so much for all of your kind words. I really, really do appreciate them <3 So let's get started for this week! This week's directive was to begin making a pixel sprite – a small image – of a Mexican long tongued bat for the game itself. There's a few small challenges as far as making a tiny image goes, but my work process always begins with a sketch, so that's what I got done this week. The main challenge, however, was making our little guy look, well, cuter . Cute to some, terrifying to others. Photo courtesy of the USDA Forest Service. I think he's cute as is, but I know plenty of people who would hate to be within a 5000 foot radius of our furry little pal. As such, here's my (very rough) sketch work so far: That'...
Read more