Amazon is bringing its pay-by-palm technology to Whole Foods stores across the nation. The tech giant announced this purchasing ability is planned for more than 500 locations before the end of 2023.
The company's goal is for customers to no longer need a wallet, credit card or physical phone tap in or to make a purchase.
“Biometric authentication has been there for a long time,” said Sanchari Das, a cybersecurity and privacy expert. She is an assistant professor at the University of Denver focused on cybersecurity and privacy from the user perspective.
We use your fingerprint at airports, our face to unlock our phones, and now Panera recently announced that you’ll soon be able to scan your palm at checkout.
This is done with Amazon One, Amazon’s palm scanning payment system that has already been implemented at Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go locations in parts of the U.S..
Panera will be the first national restaurant chain to implement it. It will initially be deployed at select locations in St. Louis before expanding in the coming months.
“It is highly usable, we do not need additional technological knowledge to use biometric because that's something which we are,” Das said.
Das said it’s a great option for companies that can afford it, but there are also some cons. She mentioned this tech may be difficult to use in certain weather, like when it’s cold for instance. There is also the potential for exclusion of those with physical disabilities or those who do not wish to share biometric data.
There are also privacy concerns.
“How are they going to process and store this kind of data?,” Das said. “Biometric people have to be all the more careful how it is implemented and how it is stored and that is something that users don't know.”
While you can change a password or a social security number, you can’t change your palm print.
Das said companies still have a few details to iron out around data storage and encryption, but technology like this is only going to become more popular.
“Definitely this is the future, and we should work towards it,” she said.
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Caleb Fernández is a digital content producer for KGUN 9. After earning his bachelor's degree from Penn State in Advertising/Public Relations, Caleb went to New York where he learned production assistance, photography and art direction. Share your story ideas and important issues with Caleb by emailing caleb.fernandez@kgun9.com or by connecting on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.
