Your wallet is all in the palm of your hand.
Whole Foods shoppers in New York City recently discovered a strange new way to pay for their groceries: Instead of swiping a card or tapping a phone, they simply wave their hand over a reader.
called amazon oneThe company says that thanks to the touch-free reader, customers “will no longer need a wallet or even a mobile phone to make payments.”
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Christian Keenan, 28, who visited the Wall Street store on Friday. “This is the first time I’ve come across something like this.”
“It’s a mess,” Troy Bechet, 60, said at the Bryant Park venue. “That doesn’t surprise me. I’ll have to do some more research on that.”
MJ Jarbinski, 47, said he paid by hand at the same store Friday and has been using it since the fall.
“I love it. I have no problem gathering all the information,” she said. “I don’t care. It’s that simple.
“I like that I don’t have to show ID when I want to buy alcohol because all my information is captured,” she added.
The technology works by analyzing both an individual’s unique skin pattern and their “underlying venous structure.” According to the company, and link this “palm signature” to your Prime account and payments. It has been in development since 2020, but Amazon announced last summer that it would roll out by the end of the year.
Currently available at all Whole Foods locations in the U.S., as well as the Hudson Nonstop Store in Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport, three Crunch Fitness locations in New York City, and other stores and stadiums across the country. It has been introduced.
“Customers love the convenience,” Whole Foods Chief Technology Officer Leandro Balbino said in a statement, but not all shoppers agree.
“To be honest, it’s a little bothersome to me,” Keenan said. “I can’t say that’s what I’m interested in.”
“So cool. Paresh Nag, 35, said he would “definitely” use it someday. “But we don’t know how safe it is at this point.”
Estela Puertas, 56, didn’t notice Amazon One while shopping near Bryant Park on Friday, but she was worried the scan results “weren’t good enough to see her hands.” are doing.
Amazon says on its website that biometric data (fingerprints and other characteristics used for automatic recognition) is not used for tracking or market research, and will not be provided to governments unless legally required to do so. Says.
But Lisa Palmer, chief artificial intelligence strategist at consulting firm AI Leaders, cautioned that these details could change at the company’s discretion at any time and for any reason.
“We start with the idea of using it for payments, but we don’t know what it will end up being reused for,” she told the Post. “Once you literally hand over your palm print, you have no control over your own biometric identity.”
Representatives for Whole Foods and its parent company Amazon declined to comment to the Post.
Palmer said readings like palm prints could someday be as ubiquitous as Social Security numbers, but he also has concerns about how securely the data will be stored.
Amazon said images of people’s palms and veins were “encrypted and sent to a high-security zone” where only selected employees could access them.
However, Palmer pointed to the devastating cyber attack that debilitated Las Vegas casinos last summer and another recent cyber attack that severely disrupted Clorox’s business. pointed out the infringement.
“It went from being a problem to not being a problem.” if Your data will be compromised, but when?” she said.
Palmer said biometric data can be compromised by cyber theft, something close to that. Half of the American population has experienced at some point in their life.
“What are companies like Amazon going to do to mitigate the damage if your palm print is stolen? You can’t ring that bell.”
But Jarvinski isn’t too worried about his data being stolen.
“I thought Amazon is a big enough company that if they don’t do the right thing, they’re at risk of lawsuits,” she said. “If someone were to steal your wallet, your cards, your bank account information, I don’t think it’s necessarily a higher risk than other security breaches.”
Amazon One may be looking to one-up other virtual transaction methods like Apple Pay, which was turned on by about 75% of iPhone users in 2022. wall street journal.
“Our data shows that 95% of the time after a user signs up, [Amazon One] And use it,” said Amazon Vice President Dilip Kumar. told WSJ in August“They don’t go back to their previous ways of identifying themselves.”
But some New Yorkers aren’t buying it.
“I use my cell phone, I use my card. I don’t need anything else,” said Nick Giannaci, 26, during a trip to Whole Foods Bryant Park.
“I don’t feel comfortable releasing my biometric information like that,” added Gregory, 44, who asked not to use his last name. “Maybe it’s something you get used to, but I’m not there yet.”
said Brooklyn resident Tej Clark, 47, while shopping at a Wall Street store.
“It’s not for me,” he said. “I think we have to prepare for the future.”
