Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/18/theres-a-galaxy-sized-securi.html
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Every article on this reads the same and gives no comprehensible info.
Finally, after a bit of searching, I found this, which seems to make much more sense to me:
In other words, the likely actual bug is that if you register your fingerprint when you have a crappy screen protector on, then it may record a fingerprint which is so broad that any finger can unlock your phone.
Anyone like me who has already registered their fingerprints on a bare phone is not endangered by this.
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So if you register a fingerprint and then put a cheap screen protector on, you probably can’t unlock the phone with your finger then?
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Nah, it won’t match.
It’s gonna be fingerprints registered with the cheap screen protector on which are insecure.
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I never understood people who use biometric phone unlocks. If you’re unconscious or dead, that means anyone can unlock your phone as long as they’re near your body.
But then again, I don’t use Siri or Alexa for similar reasons. I can just imagine my kids surreptitiously taping my voice, then using audio-editing software to piece together “Alexa, buy 100 packs of Pokemon cards”.
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Fingerprint locks protect against the chance that your phone is lost or stolen which is dramatically more likely scenario.
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The front fell off.
What are you hiding? 
busier than a cat trying to bury a turd in a marble floor.
Thank you for the belly laugh, @SeamusBellamy!
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But then again, I don’t use Siri or Alexa for similar reasons.
I am looking forward to exiting the commercial surveillance infrastructure soon for lots of reasons.
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But don’t numeric passwords do the same thing?
If I told you, I wouldn’t be very good at hding stuff, no? 
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Thanks for confirming that. I assumed this is what the real issue is.
The phone really needs to be able to rate the “quality” of the fingerprint used to set it up and be able to reject it.
As an aside I really don’t get the appeal of screen protectors. They look like crap and I’d be surprised if they help all that much.
Some can, to a point. I got a screen protector for my Kindle, since I was trying to use an active stylus with it and it had a very firm point. Well… I accidentally wound up stepping on the Kindle. Oddly, the device screen cracked underneath the intact protector… but it still functions, and with the protector in place I’m not cutting my finger when I swipe.
(I could get the screen replaced, but it would cost as much as buying a new Kindle, so no. When mine finally breaks down, I’ll switch to my dad"s, which is newer.)
Edited to add: the protector is tempered glass, not plastic.
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FaceID on iphones will only work if it sees an ‘attentive’ user, ie looking at the device with eyes open. The new Pixel 4 will work if the owner is asleep, unconscious or dead; which means Google is probably in cahoots with the FBI, among various alphabet soup agencies.
I have a glass screen protector on my new iPhone 11 Pro Max. It goes right to the edge of the phone screen, has a thin black band around it, and is effectively invisible, with the clear plastic case fitted, it’s pretty much flush with the inside edge of the case, you cannot tell that a protector is fitted.
Now, if you insist on fitting shitty plastic protectors that get bubbles, fluff and lint underneath, well yes, the end result is going to look crap.
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