# Movies were handprints/retinal scans/ laser-array security WORKS **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815 "2016-12-29T01:56:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/21 "2016-12-31T12:11:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Actually, in _The Avengers_, Loki used a sort of holographic projection of the eye to fool the scanner. The person with the correct eyeball was forcibly restrained with a scary-looking tool held over his face, but the tool was apparently just a scanner. I recall there being a lot of screaming accompanying that “scan.” I think it was a rather destructive scanning process. Gotta love youtube. . . Well, the screaming might be attributable to the crowd rather than the person being 'scanned', but they sure did react drastically to the scan. The victim twitched and jerked spastically during the process. Note also the spinning blades in the device, and the way the eye hologram is reconstructed on the other end. I think we're meant to think of the eye being destroyed from the outside in, since that's the way it's reconstructed. Anyway, that's how I'll always think of it. Considering it's a PG-13 movie, they couldn't really be more graphic with it if they wanted. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/22 "2016-12-31T16:04:21Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > But doesn’t that one still qualify? > > Peter O’Toole helpfully delivers the exposition – _“We must look at the facts impartially: we can’t get past the alarm; that’s out; we can’t tamper with it; that’s out; we can’t turn it off; that’s out … some trusted member of the museum staff has to obligingly switch off the alarm system”_ – and Audrey Hepburn, who naturally agrees that it’s not a matter of having enough agility to swipe the statuette while the beams are on, suggests they simply bribe a guard to switch the beams off. > > (Ah, if only they had! **How To Steal A Million: Just Spend Hundreds Of Thousands**.) Yes, but that’s not what they did – they found a much cheaper way to persuade the guards to shut the system down. Of COURSE it still qualifies – what do you think the point of my even mentioning it was? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/23 "2017-01-01T03:40:30Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > But doesn’t that one still qualify? > > Peter O’Toole helpfully delivers the exposition – _“We must look at the facts impartially: we can’t get past the alarm; that’s out; we can’t tamper with it; that’s out; we can’t turn it off; that’s out … some trusted member of the museum staff has to obligingly switch off the alarm system”_ – and Audrey Hepburn, who naturally agrees that it’s not a matter of having enough agility to swipe the statuette while the beams are on, suggests they simply bribe a guard to switch the beams off. My local museum had the collection of collectable gold coins, probably their only portable valuable asset, go missing while the alarms were off and the back door unlocked. So like real life, it’s almost boring. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/24 "2017-01-22T17:28:58Z")
The most recent episode of _The Blacklist_ featured a bad guy with an RFID chip in his hand that he used to operate his secret lair. The thieves infiltrating it made a point of mentioning that the chip was wired to his heartbeat, so they brought in a special machine to mimic a heartbeat after they sliced it out of his hand. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/25 "2017-01-22T18:13:36Z")
In the last episode of Dark Matter that we saw, they had to defeat a retina scan. So, they kidnap some engineers, and then scan their retinas and use a device to create new, temporary patterns under our guy’s eyes. When they are explaining this to the audience, they cut to a shot of one of the kidnapped engineers turning to the other one and saying “That is SO cool.” ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/26 "2017-01-22T19:41:10Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > In the Bond movie _Licence to Kill_, a palmprint-locked rifle actually functions perfectly, and as designed. IIRC, in Skyfall Bond is issued with pistol with a similar mechanism, which fails to fire when a bad guy aims it at him. ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815/27 "2017-01-22T19:43:44Z")
Meanwhile, [in real life…](https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/01/12/peace-sign-selfies-could-let-hackers-copy-fingerprints/amp/?client=ms-android-samsung) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-handprints-retinal-scans-laser-array-security-works/775815.md?page=1)