Passwords: they’re everywhere, and most of us manage a half-dozen or so at least. They’re also the weakest link in the authentication chain because humans aren’t great at creating passwords remembering them.
A Motorola executive (and former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency head) Regina Dugan proposed a solution at the D11 conference: pills and tattoos.
First Electronic Tattoo Printed Onto Skin
One idea Motorola presented was the “vitamin authentication” pill. One of Dugan’s colleagues showed a small tablet that contains an electronic chip. After someone swallows the pill, stomach acts as an electrolyte in the chip’s battery and powers it.
The chip has a switch that turns on and off, generating an 18-bit signal like an electrocardiogram. Ones entire body would be the authentication token, just like the fobs that many office workers carry to get on corporate networks. The authentication could be activated by touch, since the human body conducts electricity — touch your phone or laptop and you’re in.
Of course, swallowing your authentication token every day would also mean passing it out of the digestive system (Proteus’ electronic pills leave your system in the normal course of digestion). It also isn’t clear that users will want to take pills every day — some people take vitamins, but most don’t.
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