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Biometric Payment Arrives in a Store Near You

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the new-string-of-finger-thefts dept.

"A chain of Florida convenience stores has begun accepting fingerprints as payment, using a biometric system called Pay By Touch. The company is a Bay-area startup backed by $130 million in VC cash and the acquisition of BioPay, a Virginia-based biometrics firm that's already done $7 billion in European transactions. From the article: 'The company is a bit puzzled by customer privacy fears. After all, they say, how can using a unique fingerprint for identification be riskier to theft than a plastic card, key chain token, or account number? ...The fingerprint image recorded is not the same as those collected by the federal government or law enforcement.'"

5 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Uhh... by Poromenos1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    how can using a unique fingerprint for identification be riskier to theft than a plastic card, key chain token, or account number?

    Because you leave them on everything you touch?

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    Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
    1. Re:Uhh... by MarkByers · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And you can't cancel (change) your fingerprint if someone finds out what it is.

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      I'll probably be modded down for this...
  2. The cost of shopping.... by SubliminalVortex · · Score: 5, Funny

    Fingers today only, next month, we charge an arm and a leg!

  3. In Other News by Who235 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Officials from the Tampa police department respond to a rash of armed index finger amputations. Meat cleaver sales rise, while guitar sales plummet.

    Film at 11:00.

  4. I'm not *that* anonymous by anaesthetica · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Scuttlemonkey wrote "An anonymous reader writes..." despite the fact that this is my journal entry, and says qo quite clearly at the top of the story: "Journal written by anaesthetica (596507) and posted by ScuttleMonkey on 14:12 Saturday 24 June 2006"

    I mean, I may not stand out in a crowd, but this is just an unnecessary blow to my ego.

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    The Rise and Fall of Online Community