Cash, Plastic or Hand? Amazon Envisions Paying With a Wave (wsj.com) 37
Amazon wants to make your hand your credit card. From a report: The tech giant is creating checkout terminals that could be placed in bricks-and-mortar stores and allow shoppers to link their card information to their hands, WSJ reported over the weekend, citing people familiar with the matter. They could then pay for purchases with their palms, without having to pull out a card or phone. The company plans to pitch the terminals to coffee shops, fast-food restaurants and other merchants that do lots of repeat business with their customers, according to some of the people. Amazon declined to comment. Amazon, like other tech companies, is trying to further integrate itself into consumers' financial lives, leaving banks and card networks on edge. Apple introduced a credit card last year, and Google is rolling out checking accounts. If the Amazon terminals succeed, they could leapfrog mobile wallets such as Apple Pay while expanding Amazon's already-extensive access to consumer data. Amazon's projects are closely watched both by tech and financial companies, which are increasingly colliding in payments.
When their user database is hacked (Score:3)
Re:When their user database is hacked (Score:5, Funny)
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Shit, when I was part of a class action all I got was a check in the mail.
You got a coupon to Red Robin?! Wow! You must have been part of a really important class who had measurable financial damages, huh?
As for the credit reporting, I got it free for life unilaterally without signing anything, because I refused to sign anything, and they want to minimize their exposure regardless. If you sign it, they get to charge you after the free period ends, and you've waived some part of the liability. But of course,
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None of course. And you can be sure it'll come with a ten page TOS agreement written in incomprehensible legalese that supposedly absolves them from any consequences for their errors.
This isn't being contemplated for the benefit of customers. That last tiny bit of transactional friction isn't a problem for the customer. This is to help the vendors and the company facilitating the transaction, which get nothing if you have time to have second thoughts.
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We have the technology for hand swaps. The main issue is the cost of the surgery and antirejection drugs, but economies of scale will bring that down.
Deepfake waving is the new fintech zero day. (Score:1)
Providing a new meaning to "handjob" (Score:4, Interesting)
Nice (Score:2)
So like the people who cut out the NFC chip of a credit card and put in into a ring?
Re:Nice (Score:4, Insightful)
Whoever thought of this never talked to their security vendor. I've dealt with RSI Handkey readers, still the top of the line reader, and absolutely will never touch them again. When I worked for AWS they were considering biometrics for use in the data centers and I screamed long and loud that hand geometry readers were just about the worst possible choice in the entire stable of biometric hardware.
They're a pain in the ass to calibrate, don't stay in calibration, and fail frequently. The worst thing is that any change in your hand will fail your read until you've re-enrolled. Is it cold/hot outside? Get a bee sting on a finger? Break a finger or sprain a thumb? Spend the weekend gardening? Slice a finger and need a bandage? Hand read fails until you re-enroll, and then once your hand is back to normal it will fail again.
We're doing some amazing things at Amazon, but this isn't going to be one of them.
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Isn't it also true for fingerprint readers? The one in my phone stops recognizing my fingers after just one day of rock climbing. I guess it's just not for everyone. Maybe hand models will be happy to use this new payment method?
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Fingerprint readers are better, and you can enroll multiple fingers in case one gets injured or damaged. Of course rock climbing will probably tear up all of them (maybe try enrolling your pinkie finger?)
The only biometric readers that I've seen that were worth a damn were the iris readers. Unlike the retina scanners the iris reader is easy to use and unobtrusive, and can enroll both eyes in about 3 seconds. Just look at it from 2 or 3 meters away and as long as one eye is open you have a positive identi
They can take payment with my palm, (Score:2)
when they pry it from my cold dead hand.
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Potentially the bloodprint will be taken without you knowing about it, cross-linked to whatever payment system you did use, and then used to validate your other payment system whenever used.
Mark of the Beast ... (Score:2)
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I seriously hope this will spur radical Christians to resort to vandalism or sabotage.
That says a lot about you.
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Elaborate.... Does it say he/she doesn't like radical religious people and hopes they will make themselves look foolish, or doesn't like them and wants to use them as a proxy criminal element to do damage to amazon?
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> Does it say he/she doesn't like radical religious people and hopes to use them as a proxy criminal element to do damage to amazon.
Your first interpretation is a stretch. The end result of "vandalism or sabotage" is not "ridicule".
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Why fight the facial recognition cameras then? (Score:1)
Reissuance (Score:5, Insightful)
This seems to be /. poll gone wrong (Score:3)
The answer is cash when you're buying things you don't want tracked.
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The only thing that MUST be accepted is cash, everything else is optional, this is what Legal Tender is
If this were not the case then you would get vastly disjointed systems where you can't shop some places as you don't qualify for what they accept
Government do not want this, and retailers do not want this, only the banks might and then only if the control it .. Amazon could never push this through
Progress is incremental (Score:2)
The only thing that MUST be accepted is cash, everything else is optional, this is what Legal Tender is
If this were not the case then you would get vastly disjointed systems where you can't shop some places as you don't qualify for what they accept
Government do not want this, and retailers do not want this, only the banks might and then only if the control it .. Amazon could never push this through
Conceptually, cashless is great - but the thing you brought up about being disjointed needs to be addressed. (among other things)
But think about the inverse - what would being cashless solve? Ever have to go to another country? Think of how much faster digital payments are. And how much more flexible. And yes, if it is digital it can be tracked... which can be bad. But it can ALSO be good. It allows YOU to more easily track your spend. And most criminal enterprises operate in cash, and they go to grea
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The answer is cash when you're buying things you don't want tracked.
Or simply want the convenience of paying for a loaf of bread without the hassle of using a card. Or when you get your haircut so you know the person gets the money. Or paying for gas at gas stations so you don't have to worry about your card being skimmed. Or a myriad of other reasons.
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Never use cash when you can earn points on a credit card. Also if you're going to use cash, try to join every discount membership program you can to maximize the savings. My wallet is bulging with grocery store membership cards!
As a retailer: (Score:4, Informative)
...without having to pull out a card or phone (Score:1)
They could then pay for purchases with their palms, without having to pull out a card or phone.
So we got too lazy to make sure we had enough cash with us and went with checks. Then writing numbers and the name of the store became too difficult and went with credit cards.
But it became too much of a hassle to be bothered with a card and went with phones since no one seems to be able to put them down these days anyhow. I guess it's too much trouble to stop checking FaceChat or whatever to use the phone to make purchases so Amazon comes up with this.
The next step is your entire paycheck goes straight to
Leech on society (Score:2)
They just want to leech out another percent out of every transaction ever. Prices keep going up and up, your pay stays the same, and all the huge rich companies make another % of profit off the top of all sales across the universe to the tune of a zillion bucks a year.
The real question (Score:2)
The real question is: When will I be able to pay with a backhand slap? (preferrably while talking with an Italian accent)
Although this might make getting change problematic:
Here take my money (slap).
Fine, here's your change (slap back).
Stolen ID (Score:1)
Oh hell no! (Score:2)
CASH.
How about (Score:1)