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Biometric Voice Recognition Credit Cards

Posted by timothy on from the all-others-pay-cash dept.

securitas writes "New Scientist's Celeste Biever reports on the latest in biometric security devices: voice recognition credit cards. The device is three times the size of a normal credit card, has a 'microphone, a loudspeaker, a battery and a voice-recognition chip' and is intended to help reduce credit card fraud. The owner speaks a password into the card and the card emits an authentication squawk. Bruce Schneier loves the concept of BeepCard's related sound authentication technology. Other articles at the Telegraph and The Register."

6 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. 3x the size!?! by ePhil_One · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why would anybody want to carry a credit card 3x the size of their other cards?

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    You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
  2. and the merchant verification process? by way2trivial · · Score: 4, Insightful

    how do I, the merchant, prove I 'heard' the squawk?

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    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  3. What if your sick? by Grant29 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What if you have a sore throat and try to go to the drug store for some medicine? If your voice is scratchy, will you be denied your medicine because your voice doesn't match?

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  4. Re:Convenience? by Kenja · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "Isn't one of the goals of credit cards convenience?"

    The main goal is to get people to spend money they dont have so that they can pay off the interest for the rest of their life.

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    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  5. Re:More passwords? by Frizzle+Fry · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The benefit of biometrics should be that people don't have to remember more password. The fact that people can't (or don't want to) remember passwords is a good reason to be working on technologies where you can be identified by your voice or fingerprint rather than a string of characters.

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    I'd rather be lucky than good.
  6. Potential problems... by cagle_.25 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...seem fairly obvious. First, if one of these devices is at a public terminal, it wouldn't be hard at all to get a .wav record of the transaction; then, I have your password FOR LIFE!

    Second, if someone's voice is drastically altered, (s)he would have to find a way to prove identity outside of the voice recognition system.

    Third, any technology that might let me verify someone's voiceprint could also be used to generate a false voiceprint. A simple tape recording of you talking could be enough to forge your voice electronically. (Hmmm... cool plot possibilities for a Tom Clancey thriller)

    Fourth, my (hypothetical) twin, who probably has an almost-identical voiceprint, is not necessarily to be trusted.

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    Human being (n.): A genetically human, genetically distinct, functioning organism.