Last weeks announcement that the new iPhone 5 will include a fancy new fingerprint scanning security system was met with a chorus of protests. What if someone lifts my prints and makes a fake finger and unlocks my phone? What if the government snoops on my phone more than it already does and steals my fingerprints?? Oh God, what if muggers cut off my thumbs to unlock my phone when they steal it?!? Relax. None of thats going to happen. Heres why.First, a quick rundown of how the tech actually works. When you set up your new iPhone 5, its TouchID fingerprint scanner registers one of your prints and stores that data locally in the phones secure A7 chip. From that moment onward, if you have TouchID enabled, every time you press your finger against the home button/capacitance scanner the phone matches the current print with the registered version and, if they match, unlocks the phone. Whats more, the new iPhone 5 will also reportedly employ RF signals to “see” through the uppermost, dead layers of finger skin and image the living tissue immediately below.

via Stop Worrying About the New iPhones Fingerprint Scanner.