Have you encountered "pay by touch"?

[undeterred]

You put your finger on a scanner and your print is linked to your credit/debit account- I guess this means you can still shop if you leave your wallet at home.

I said no thanks to the clerk, and I'm trying to figure out why this creeps me out.

[RB TexLa]

1. Why would it creep you out?

It works great and saves time.

[file83]

22. Ummm....then the corporations/government have your finger prints

even though you committed no crime. Not smart.

If you are so comfortable with it, you should go down to your local Police Station or FBI field office and voluteer your finger prints to the national finger print database.

[RB TexLa]

30. The state of Texas, FBI, and SEC all have copies of them

that I had to volunteer


on edit, state of California as well.

[file83]

25. Let me explain the potential dangers about this technology a little better

Ok, you've heard about all the stories concerning corporations suffering computer "break ins" from hackers where they lose literally, millions of people's credit card #'s/social security numbers/personal information, right?

Ok. Now when that happens, it's pretty bad, but at least it is just information.

However, if a company now "loses" your finger print data to some hacker in cyberspace, your "finger print" data could then be in the hands of anyone. ANYONE.

Now, you are aware that there is technology to clone finger prints to a mold and have it attached to your finger. So now that hacker could go into any store and buy stuff because it is so "easy" and "convenient" as you said.

What's worse, if some very bad people wanted to set you up - they could commit murder/crime with YOUR fingerprints on their fingers - and then the police would come to you. YOU become the prime suspect.

Talk about identity theft.

Now, since the only store house of finger print data is currently in the national crime database, which is controlled by the FBI, the chances of that data getting "lost" is low. But if every stupid store starts using/collecting finger prints, this information will be in numerous databases all over the internet: NOT SAFE.

Just think about it.

[JuniperLea]

2. Did 666 appear on your forehead?

Man, that is creepy... I'm not sure why either... black market fingerprints? ew!

[slor]

3. No I have not seen it...

AND i HOPE i NEVER DO.

[ewoden]

4. Just wait till folks start robbing you with wire cutters!!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. I'll not do that again.... I was overdrawn and the machine clipped

off a piece of my finger 'til I paid up. :)

[suffragette]

6. Haven't encountered it but it concerns me

How much privacy will we trade for convenience?
Who has (or can gain) access to the data?

Did a brief search and found this:

Fingerprint payments taking off despite security concerns

http://www.biometricgroup.com/in_the_news/10_07_05.html

Consumers embarking on a shopping spree may be able to leave their wallets behind in the near future, despite some security and privacy experts' concerns.

Yet, the security of the systems largely remains a question mark. Security and privacy experts worry that pay-by-fingerprint schemes could lead to hard-to-combat identity fraud and greater threats to civil rights.

"What are their security practices and how much more extraordinary are they compared to a ChoicePoint, a LexisNexis, or a CardSystems?" said Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum. ChoicePoint, Reed Elsevier's LexisNexis, and CardSystems Solutions have all had high-profile incidents where consumers' financial and personal data has been leaked.

"Stealing a credit card number is one thing," she said. "But if your biometric is stolen and can be reconstituted, then that is a big problem."

Yes, the companies pushing pay by touch say they will safeguard data, but so did the ones cited in the article and we know that they didn't.

[undeterred]

13. Its amazing to me that people trust this technology without questioning

how accurate it is. What if the accuracy isn't 100%? What if the fingerprint data gets associated with the wrong account by accident? What if someone hacks into the system and associates your fingerprint with their

[suffragette]

19. That's a huge issue

How do you get your "identity" back if it's associated with someone else? And I'm sure there will be people who figure out a way of doing just that.

Makes me think of that movie "The Net."

[undeterred]

20. If people realized how much identity theft is already happening

they might be a little more skeptical.

[suffragette]

28. Yes and it would be better for everyone if those who felt that initial

worry (as you did) would question why that is and search for more info instead of shrugging and just accepting that this is just the newest way to do something.

Your instincts serve you well.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MercutioATC]

9. As long as the print on file is a winkie print, I'd think so.

(I'm assuming the "it" you're talking about is the scanner...)

[sweetheart]

8. Paid for penetrating touch

Touched inside by sexual sperm,
crawling round like wriggly worms,
have you ever paid too much,
for the impunity of the touch,
or have you ever paid to little,
crying out like chicken little,
Deeply grinding passionate bump,
sloppy sweating animal hump.
Nothing matters mind things you see,
when its all about chemistry.
Have you ever pay by touch?
Does she ever charge too much.

[Bluebear]

10. Were you buying an apple?

Oops, wrong thread.

[Just Me]

11. Yep. Not like that, though.

O8)

[fishwax]

12. I don't think my bank has my fingerprint

so I guess it wouldn't work for me :shrug:

I've heard of such things, but haven't talked to anyone who has actually seen it. Where did you see it?

[undeterred]

14. I saw it at Cub foods,. a grocery store

It kind of caught me off guard since I hadn't heard about it. I never like to be the first one to try these things.

[Katherine Brengle]

15. I'm not religious, but that sounds a little too "mark of the beast" for my

liking.

Not to mention that I am not comfortable with my personal information being that accessible.

[Kerrytravelers]

16. I pretty much use cash for everything.

I don't like a paper tail on me. Call ne paranoid, but now we're scanning our fingerprints as credit/debit cards? Creepy.

[MiniMe]

17. Great, so they will have everybody's fingerprints on file

No thanks

[undeterred]

18. As far as I know I have only had to give a print once

at an out of state bank where I was cashing a large check in person. I doubt that would end up anywhere unless there were a problem with it. So assuming I am not on file, I'd like to stay that way.

[GreenPartyVoter]

21. You can get a little microchip so you can wave your hand to

open your house doors. This also bothers me.

[file83]

26. Yeah, so now if someone wants to mug you, they CUT it out of you

and probably kill you so they have longer to use it. No thanks, take my wallet.

[file83]

23. Please tell us - What store offered this service/in what city???

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[file83]

27. No, twins have different finger prints. Prints are developmental,

not genetic.

[Spike from MN]

29. They introduced these last year at some of the Cub Foods

stores around here. I absolutely refuse to use it. However, apparently a "finger-scan" is different from a "fingerprint." The local news agency had something about this when Cub first started offering this so obviously more then a few people had contacted the news agency with their concerns. Here's what a google search shows regarding finger-scan vs fingerprint:

Biometric vs. Non-Biometric Fingerprinting

The aura of criminality that accompanies the term "fingerprint" has not significantly impeded the acceptance of finger-scan technology, because the two authentication methods are very different. Fingerprinting, as the name suggests, is the acquisition and storage of the image of the fingerprint. Fingerprinting was for decades the common ink-and-roll procedure, used when booking suspects or conducting criminal investigations. More advanced optical or non-contact fingerprinting systems (known as live-scan), which normally utilize prints from several fingers, are currently the standard for forensic usage. They require 250kb per finger for a high-quality image. Finger-scan technology also acquires the fingerprint, but doesn't store the full image. It stores particular data about the fingerprint in a much smaller template, requiring from 250-1000 bytes. After the data is extracted, the fingerprint is not stored. Significantly, the full fingerprint cannot be reconstructed from the finger-scan template.

Do I trust them to "not store the full image" with a finger-scan? Hell no. The way I see it, they're already tapping my phone and groking my email and everything I do on the "Internets" so fuck 'em. If they want my finger scans they'll have to work for 'em. Bastards.