[rurounijones]

I sincerely hope not since, as a recent HN submission pointed out, you [EDIT] possibly [/EDIT] lose all 5th amendment protections in the US when your device is no longer protected by "something you know"

"As well as" == fine

"Instead of" == run!

[sbuk]

Why wasn't this a problem 10 years ago when fingerprint scanners were introduced to desktop and then laptop computers?

[rurounijones]

Good question, not a clue but anecdotally I have never seen a finger-print scanner enabled computer that didn't use it as part of a two-factor auth as well as password in a corporate environment.

The cynical part of me thinks that the proliferation of mobile devices + the close proximity of these new devices to danger (danger being people who would quite like you to give them access at every opportunity it seems. e.g. employees of an increasingly privacy-hostile government, such as the police) in the hands of users who don't know the implications is the biggest change/problem.

[balbaugh]

This is a possibility, not a definite. The courts will have to decide.