DIY Iris Scanning?

gadzook33 asks: "There have been rumors floating around about DIY iris scanning, using digital cameras for biometric security. Iris scanning presents a fantastic alternative to password-based authentication but hasn't really come to our desktops yet. I've looked around but can't find any concrete material on the subject. Is anyone doing this? Are there any efforts to develop open software for this sort of thing? Are patents holding things up? Given that passwords are an almost defunct technique for protecting data in certain situations, it would be nice to have an alternative."

Why would I want to...

[YowzaTheYuzzum]

... give anyone an incentive to gouge out my eyeballs?

Better than retina scanning

[jamesh]

which is where you use a laser to illuminate the back of the eye, and a camera to take a picture of the illuminated retina and then use some sophisticated pattern matching to recognize the unique pattern of scars left by previous scans.

Re:Don't Look!

[rts008]

RTFM, n00b!
Oh, and carry a few spare eyeballs with you- you know...backups!

really?

[Unknown_monkey]

Out of all the things to DIY, what would drive you towards a DIY project involving possibly lasers or bright LEDs and your eyes? Some things you shouldn't go bargain on, like never buy the cheap toiler paper. For both my eyes and my brown eye, I think it's worth spending the cash for premium.

Aaargh! Wrong laser!

[myowntrueself]

I thought I told you to label those buttons, Emory?

Little red lights

[G1975a]

Aren't the little red lights on the bottom of my mouse iris scanners? That's what they told me at work.