The briefcase that's a griefcase to criminals and corruption (TM).

Don't let your briefcase be a thiefcase (TM).

This briefcase is property of EXISTech Corp. By extension, it is thus considered to be part of EXISTech's Corporate headquarters. Therefore, it requires the same degree of protection as EXISTech's Corporate Headquarters, namely that it be protected from undocumented access to its contents, or to access by strangers.

Accordingly, an audit trail log, with fingerprints of anyone and everyone opening this briefcase, whether for Business, or simply for routine inspection, must be maintained.

Routine inspection may include inspection by officials, such as law enforcement personnel, customs officials, etc., as well as by private security officers such as those stationed at the egress of establishments such as department stores, public libraries, and other places where bags and personal belongings are checked upon exiting or entering these establishments.

In order to ensure this accountability, the owner or person carrying this briefcase cannot open it. Only persons other than the owner of this briefcase can open it.

Anyone opening this briefcase, whether they be law enforcement officers, customs officials, military police, or private security forces, must therefore be fingerprinted, and the fingerprints must be maintained in a time-stamped accountability archive. Additionally, this briefcase contains a video surveillance system to document any inspection of its contents, in order to ensure that the contents are not compromised by strangers or corruption.

Compliance with these directives is enforced by both policy as well as by using the latest in keyless lock security technology. The briefcase uses keyless thumb latches activated by pressing both thumbs on the latches simultaneously. The onboard microprocessor scans the thumb prints of the person attempting to open the briefcase. If the fingerprints are those of the owner, the briefcase is not opened. If the fingerprints are those of any person other than the owner, the fingerprints are transmitted by way of a built in cellular telephone data communications system, for remote archival and comparison with a database of known criminals. Assuming no criminal match is found, the briefcase can be opened by anyone other than its owner, pending successful transmission and archival of that person's fingerprints to a logfile mirrored across EXISTech's global network of servers.

In order to ensure this accountability, the following scriptfiles and programs are provided:

Makefile is for compilation, e.g. by typing, for example, "make pgm_similarity_test" of the c programs of those below:
icantopencase.pl is the main application that you can run in order to prevent yourself from being able to open the briefcase.
ico.pl goes into an infinite loop of fingerprinting officals or others wishing to open the briefcase
fcap.c fingerprint capture (captures a single finterprint), with viewfinder
fcap_noX.c as above but no xwindows viewfinder
fcaps.sh an infinite loop (repeatedly calls fcap)
fv.c fingerprint viewer, works like xv except specifically on fingerprint files
pgm_enroll.c is for enrolling yourself into the access denial files so that you will be unable to open the briefcase. output is a pgm of your fingerprint.
ddt_enroll.c is for enrolling yourself into access denial; output is a ddt file
ddt_similarity_test.c compares incoming fingerprint with yours, to deny you access if the match is close.
pgm_similarity_test.c compares incoming fingerprint with yours, to deny you access if the match is close.
pgm_similarity_test_and_disp.c compares and displays incoming fingerprint with yours, so you can see how the briefcase is keeping you from opening it, or allowing the official to open it.
pgm2ddt.c converts pgm file to a ddt file, and denotes it with the extension .pgm.ddt to indicate that it originated as a .pgm file.

Why am I doing this (making a case I can't open)? Here is a paper I wrote about the underlying philosophy which I call EXISTech (Existential Technology), which would make a great CS494, CS495, or Masters or PhD thesis topic.

some pictures of the briefcase in action

Related projects, e.g. an ID card or passport holder that the owner cannot open.

The fingerprint scanner is hard to set up (all the device drivers, etc.), so it will be setup on the reference computer and students will be able to bring their programs over to the reference computer for testing.

Here are some pictures of EXISTech Corporation's latest version of the briefcase that can be opened by anyone except the owner or carrier:

Here are some pictures captured through the right eye of an EXISTech employee while the briefcase was being assembled.

For best results, the griefcase handle is handcuffed to the hand, and the keys to the handcuffs are locked inside the griefcase.

(Assistant Mailroom Clerk Trainee with mail delivery briefcase.)