Fingerprint Payment System Gets Financing

prostoalex writes to tell us Yahoo! News is reporting that Pay By Touch, an electronic payments startup that connects your fingerprint to your wallet, has received an additional $130 million in financing to move forward with their biometric payment system.

Comments

Oh, great.

[Pig Hogger]

Now, thieves will cut the fingers off people they mug.

Isn't technology wonderful???

Re:Oh, great.

[turg]

Now, thieves will cut the fingers off people they mug.

Oh, yeah. The thief will just take the severed finger into the grocery store and use it right in front of the clerk. That'll work real well.

Seriously, though, there are biometric devices that confirm whether the finger is the correct temperature.

Re:Oh, great.

[austad]

Temperature can be fooled too with this technique, and it allows one to lift a fingerprint from just about anywhere, including the fingerprint scanner they just used.

As long as I can pay for gas with my middle finger

[Jackie_Chan_Fan]

... actually i'd like to pay for everything with my middle finger...

Fucking sweet.

Seriously...

[Anonymous Coward]

...what is wrong with my credit card?

Re:Seriously...

[slashname3]

You already maxed out that card. And with your credit rating, do they actually give out a 401 credit score, you can't get another one.

connects your fingerprint to your wallet

[jasonditz]

That's going to make it a bitch to type.

Am I missing something?

[turg]

From the article:

Here's how it works: Customers sign up once, by registering a checking account or a credit card, and showing government identification such as a driver's license. The Pay by Touch technology records the lines and ridges of their fingerprints, and translates the data into a numerical algorithm that is stored in a secure database.

[ . . . ]

Pay By Touch is sharing the cost of each installation, and it gets a fee per transaction of between 12 and 14 cents, he said.

That is cheaper than what stores pay for alternative payment methods, he explained. A credit card transaction typically costs a store about 60 cents for an average $25 purchase of groceries. A debit card costs a store about 50 cents

But it is a credit card or debit/check card transaction. So how are the debit/credit card fees getting paid?

Re:Am I missing something?

[Kohath]

Once you're identified, the store writes an electronic check from your bank account. The credit card companies aren't involved and don't take their cut.

The system is much cheaper for stores than credit cards. 60 cents Visa gets is more than ~15 cents Pay by Touch + check costs

I see these every time I go to the grocery store. I always wonder: what's the benefit to me? What do I care if the store saves 45 cents?

Unreliable

[Cave_Monster]

We use fingerprint technology at work. Without scanning our fingerprint (in addition to entering a personal code of digits) we cannot get through the door. On occasions this scanner fails to recognise your fingerprint and after a few tries, you either try a different door or get someone else to scan their fingerprint. I cringe at this to be used for payments for this reason, not to mention somebody using standover tactics and forcing you to pay for their purchase or even like the parent mentions, getting your finger cut off.

Re:Unreliable

[utnow]

I can think of at least one thing that would make the system a bit more secure.

When you sign up to use the system, they scan all 10 of your fingers. You assign one (one per hand?) of them as the proper finger(s), and the remaining fingers serve as ALERT fingers. So assuming (like in your scenario) someone is standing over you with a gun you can proceed with the payment (or whatever) as usual (aka, you don't get shot), and the athorities can be alerted that you're in a 'situation'. Just use the wrong finger. Since you set your own 'correct' finger, the guy/gal won't know you've done anything, and will at least think twice before putting a gun to your head and telling you to do it. They can't just cut them all off and try them all since the chance of scanning the wrong ones is too high (8 or 9 out of 10) unless they watch you do it before approaching you. I'm rambling... you get the picture. 3

Copy-proof?

[Anonymous Coward]

One wonders how secure this is after seeing how relatively simple it is to create a fingerprint mold from nothing more than a residual fingerprint.

The information in credit card magnetic strips can be copied, but the person copying the credit card must at least have physical access (even if only temporarily) to the card in order to make a copy. Using fingerprints, however, is like writing down your PIN on everything you've touched...

No way

[evil agent]

This can't possibly catch on, can it? I mean why would you entrust your confidentiality to something as insecure as a fingerprint? You leave it everywhere you go! Imagine that everytime you leave a room, you leave behind a piece of paper with your credit card number written on it.

MOD PARENT UP!

[Spy der Mann]

Seriously - have you guys thought how many FSCKING FINGERPRINTS are there in the streets? Any glass, seat, trash can, paper, door handle, glass, clothes, suitcases...

sheesh! With credit cards at least someone had to steal it first! But now it only takes some scotch tape to do the job. What are those morons thinking?

Re:MOD PARENT UP!

[game kid]

Add me to the Mod Parent Up® petition. Thoughtful of both of you (parent and GP).

More and more it feels like a shortcut for corporations to find targets for what I call PPA1.

1 Professional Personal Annoyance, or "targeted advertising"

Re:Wow

[13bPower]

hey buddy, thumb a hundred bucks to help save the clock tower?

For extra security...

[Errandboy of Doom]

...change your fingerprint every 6 weeks:
How To Fake Fingerprints

Retinal Scanner

[Dan East]

Considering the patent is about to expire on retinal scanning, they ought to wait a few more months and utilize that type of biometric. It is much harder to forge, more accurate, and does not require physical contact (which spreads germs).

Dan East

Oblig. Back to the Future

[roughapprox]

Hey kid, thumb a hundred bucks will ya, help save the clocktower.

Insufficient Funds

[mixmasterjake]

I'm sorry sir, your finger was declined. It says here that we're supposed to cut it up...