Can a fingerprint be copied?
Yes. Almost all biometric features can be copied at varying expense. Fingerprints can be copied in the form of data sets, paper prints, wax molds, etc. It is possible with criminal technical methods to observe, analyze, and copy latent fingerprints unwittingly left behind on beer glasses or door handles. One of the oldest descriptions of a high tech copy procedure has been given in a novel from R. Austin Freeman [Freeman]: Take a plate of chromate gelatin, expose this plate with the slide of the fingerprint and wash out the surface. Thereby those locations which have not been hardened by light are removed, thus leaving a fingerprint relief. Whether the copy is recognized as such or is accepted as the original depends on the fingerprint sensor and the analysis algorithm. Ultimately, however, the specific use dictates whether copying is worth while at all and whether it can be harmful. In most applications, it helps very little if a forger can make an exact copy of his own finger. From o
