Fingerprint Payment System Gets Financing 179
prostoalex writes to tell us Yahoo! News is reporting that Pay By Touch, an electronic payments startup that connects your fingerprint to your wallet, has received an additional $130 million in financing to move forward with their biometric payment system.
Oh, great. (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't technology wonderful???
Re:Oh, great. (Score:1, Insightful)
Biometrics is a technology we can do without.
Unreliable (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Unreliable (Score:2)
Totally agree. Half the time the credit card scanners at the grocery store don't read my card as it is. I can only imagine how quickly the finger scanners will wear out and then you sit there waiting for the cashier to call the manager who is the only one that knows the special code to override the damn finger scanner...
Credit cards (or better yet, something like the Mobil Speedpass) are perfectly fine for now. No need to spend all the money upgrading the systems just yet...
Re:Unreliable (Score:5, Interesting)
When you sign up to use the system, they scan all 10 of your fingers. You assign one (one per hand?) of them as the proper finger(s), and the remaining fingers serve as ALERT fingers. So assuming (like in your scenario) someone is standing over you with a gun you can proceed with the payment (or whatever) as usual (aka, you don't get shot), and the athorities can be alerted that you're in a 'situation'. Just use the wrong finger. Since you set your own 'correct' finger, the guy/gal won't know you've done anything, and will at least think twice before putting a gun to your head and telling you to do it. They can't just cut them all off and try them all since the chance of scanning the wrong ones is too high (8 or 9 out of 10) unless they watch you do it before approaching you. I'm rambling... you get the picture. 3
Re:Unreliable (Score:3, Insightful)
That strike me as 1) an easy secret to steal 2) difficult technology to implement 3) pretty likely to yield false positives, either by misreading or by user error 4) way harder than just using a credit card.
Sorry, I think I'm actually talking about the whole system here. Carry on
One Small Problem (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:One Small Problem (Score:2)
main(){while(new int);}
I just had to see if it would really compile. Then I just had to run it.
Now it's eating up 100MB / second. Neat.
It does seem to be capped at about 550MB though (1GB RAM, XP Pro SP2). Anyone know why this would be?
Re:Unreliable (Score:2)
People won't remember which fingers are "good" and "bad" - you'll get tonnes of false alerts. Ask your helpdesk guy how many people (the same ones) call in every monday for a reset - It's depressing.
I don't think using a single digit for a password/token is too bright either, for a couple reasons:
1. If you lose a password, it can be changed. If the algorythm that turns your fingerprint into a hash is cracked you're screwed - you can't get the helpd
A demonstration (Score:3, Funny)
Note also that the the remaining fingers serve as ALERT fingers.
Re:Unreliable (Score:2)
Alternitively, a finger print system could store baseline data on the payee as well. Information like average heart rate, body temperature, skin conductivity and the like would allow the payment system to determine stress levels.
An elevated stress level would then result in a security check, requiring that the payee produce photo-id and have a face to face with a teller or somesuch. While this would decrease the convenien
Re:Unreliable (Score:2)
Or it spits out a $5 bill and a receipt that states you have overdrawn your account. Of course I already use that security measure.
Re:Oh, great. (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously, though, there are biometric devices that confirm whether the finger is the correct temperature.
Re:Oh, great. (Score:1, Funny)
That's why you carry them in your mouth until you need them.
Re:Oh, great. (Score:1)
Re:Oh, great. (Score:2)
Which leaves the question: (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Stolen = forever (Score:2)
Re:Oh, great. (Score:2)
Re:Oh, great. (Score:1)
Re:Oh, great. (Score:2)
Why pay $5.15 an hour for a warm body when this fingerprint system means you have less reason to have someone around to handle cash?
Re:Oh, great. (Score:1)
You ain't seeing nothin' no more...
You ain't seeing nothin' no more... (Score:2)
Trusted Metrics (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Trusted Metrics (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Cancable (Score:2)
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.... (Score:2, Informative)
...
The car, a Mercedes S-class, was protected by a fingerprint recognition system.
...
But having stripped the car, the thieves became frustrated when they wanted to restart it. They found they again could not bypass the immobiliser, which needs the owner's fingerprint to disarm it.
They stripped Mr Kumaran naked and left him by the side of the road - but not before cutting off the end of his index finger with a mache
Re:Oh, great. (Score:2)
"Hey, can you lend me a hand?"
As long as I can pay for gas with my middle finger (Score:5, Funny)
Fucking sweet.
Re:As long as I can pay for gas with my middle fin (Score:1)
Which, of course... (Score:2)
...would require a fingernail payment system.
Not to mention a modesty curtain to shield your opinion of Big Oil from the kids in the back seat.
Re:As long as I can pay for gas with my middle fin (Score:1)
Seriously... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Seriously... (Score:4, Funny)
connects your fingerprint to your wallet (Score:5, Funny)
information everywhere (Score:1)
tin foil everywhere (Score:2)
I bet they took your prints off the next tax return.
Am I missing something? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:5, Insightful)
The system is much cheaper for stores than credit cards. 60 cents Visa gets is more than ~15 cents Pay by Touch + check costs
I see these every time I go to the grocery store. I always wonder: what's the benefit to me? What do I care if the store saves 45 cents?
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:2)
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:1)
A number of people have had major complaints with companies that do this sort of thing - because they may and do just ke
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:1)
This is why I never use my bank card for anything other then the ATM or emergencies. If someone commits fraud on my bank card, my bank account will be empty until I can get it sorted out with the bank. I know people that have had this happen and it has taken weeks for them to get any money at all, even from their direct deposit paychecks.
Using the credit card get around this, because if I see ba
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:2)
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:3, Informative)
The Merchant FAQ http://www.paybytouch.com/merchants/faqs.html> on the site says...
What is the cost to me?
As a merchant, you make a small investment in the Pay By Touch hardware and processing. This investment is quickly offset, however, by savings you'll realize due to less fraud, shorter tender times, payment type shifts, and the repeat business you can expect from offering your customers a
shitest idea ever (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:shitest idea ever (Score:1)
But, it'd be hard to graft onto your finger, and you'd look weird swiping a piece of paper or whatever over the finger swipe.
Re:shitest idea ever (Score:2)
Re:shitest idea ever (Score:2)
and it does state it reads the ridges of the finger print, so it's not thermal.
Which Finger? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Which Finger? (Score:2)
Wait a while (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Wait a while (Score:1)
Re:Wait a while (Score:1)
Re:Wait a while (Score:2)
wait a while, like say 50 years or so.
let the bugs be worked out.
unclean unclean (Score:3, Funny)
Wow (Score:2)
Re:Wow (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:2)
Re:Wow (Score:2)
COOL (Score:1)
How do I... (Score:1, Offtopic)
And I have this neat idea for a glove that captures finger prints when you shake peoples hands...wonder if I should patent that idea?
Now I just need to figure out how to setup a meeting with Bill Gates and shake his hand....
Profit!
Thanks for the fingerprint! (Score:3, Interesting)
Thanks for giving me your fingerprint.
Well, you had to, to give us your 2 cents...
I'd be OK with the whole idea if it would never be made mandatory for payments...
Copy-proof? (Score:5, Insightful)
The information in credit card magnetic strips can be copied, but the person copying the credit card must at least have physical access (even if only temporarily) to the card in order to make a copy. Using fingerprints, however, is like writing down your PIN on everything you've touched...
MOD PARENT UP! (Score:5, Insightful)
sheesh! With credit cards at least someone had to steal it first! But now it only takes some scotch tape to do the job. What are those morons thinking?
Re:MOD PARENT UP! (Score:4, Insightful)
Add me to the Mod Parent Up® petition. Thoughtful of both of you (parent and GP).
More and more it feels like a shortcut for corporations to find targets for what I call PPA1.
1 Professional Personal Annoyance, or "targeted advertising"
Re:MOD PARENT UP! (Score:1)
What most people do not understand here is that fingerprint biometric companies are working hard at creating methods of inhibiting entry with anything but live human skin: known as anti-spoofing.
Coupling this with subcutaneous sensor technologies that image the live (saline) layer of the skin, spoofing the fingerprint biometric system becomes prohibitively nontrivial. (Read: the techniques needed to to crack the system are only known to the developers of the system, as the anti-spoof technology itself is h
No way (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No way (Score:2)
For extra security... (Score:3, Informative)
How To Fake Fingerprints [www.ccc.de]
Re:For extra security... (Score:2)
the best part for purse snatchers/pickpockets (Score:2)
Well, at least the leather ones. And if not there, then on their credit cards, inside.
So now, the thieves just have to be extra light-fingered, so to speak, and then they can go back to their lair, turning the goods over to their boss, who has some tape ready...
Good news is, at least Oliver will eat more regularly, since Fagin probably won't have to worry about PINs any more.
Retinal Scanner (Score:5, Insightful)
Dan East
Re:Retinal Scanner (Score:2)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/
Dan East
Re:Retinal Scanner (Score:2)
There is one basic problem with biometrics. If it is transmited, it can be intercepted. All I need to be able to do is copy the digital transmision of the retinal patern as it leaves the scanner (as in the physical scanner, not the "ATM" device) and play it back whene
Think about it 'with credit finger' (Score:1)
Re:Think about it 'with credit finger' (Score:2)
Just one more token... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Just one more token... (Score:2)
So to buy something, you have to swipe your card, have your thumb scanned, look into the retinal scanner, provide saliva, stool, and urine samples. To get your Dove bar and Chocolate Milk.
"Cash."
The more complicated these systems become, the less retailers will want to deal with it. I mean, Discover can't be the first one to do this or no one will take Discover anymore.
Re:Just one more token... (Score:1)
Re:Just one more token... (Score:2)
The scary thing is people actually DO that... but thats largely to "prove" physical access to the card in the context of an Internet transa
HEY PAY BY TOUCH, read this finger! (Score:2, Funny)
Oblig. Back to the Future (Score:3, Funny)
Pull my Finger, that will be 10$ + gratuity (Score:2)
The road to Hell (Score:2)
Oh good lord... (Score:1)
AND
Now getting mugged on the way home from work will involve permanent dismemberment... great. Maybe they could make something like those anti-mugging belt wallets for when you visit countries with high crime. It would basically keep your hands in your pants all the time to make them unavailable to theives. I am patent
Insufficient Funds (Score:5, Funny)
is it just me... (Score:1, Flamebait)
Fingerprint Payment System Gets Fingering
i need new glasses.
after work (Score:1)
How about a cheap cellphone wallet? (Score:1, Offtopic)
Not Very Hard To Make More Secure (Score:1)
Personally, I would never trust my financial assets on a finger-print alone. I think the only bio-metric device I would trust alone without some additional form of security is a retinal scanner.
Not just a finger scan a pin code is also required (Score:2)
More information can b
Several reason NOT to use fingerprint devices (Score:2)
General populaces are at increasing risk due to:
1. Loss of biometric data (finger detachments, eyeballs ripped out)
2. Duplication of biometric data (back-end hacking; once stolen, always stolen; you are non-revocable)
3. Transference of ancillary foreign objects (Infectious disease; fecal matter; Leprosy; Acid; Alkalinity)
It is a non-starter. Only takes one plague to av
Re:Several reason NOT to use fingerprint devices (Score:2)
This is basically true of PIN pads as well.
Fingerprint as hash... (Score:2)
But couldn't the fingerprint somehow be used as a hashing function. For example, lets say your bank scans in your thumb print in a 1000 x 1000 32 bit array and has it on record.
Now, when you go to the store, instead of the machine scanning in your entire fingerprint and sending it to the bank, the bank sends to
I don't know who originally said it... (Score:2)
Severed fingers should be the *least* of anyone's worries--rest assured, working artificial fingers *will* be developed. Even better, the fingerpr
record? feedback? (Score:2)
Cancel your fingerprints (Score:2)
Quite frankly, this system scares the heck out of me.
Does anyone here actually like technology? (Score:2)
Yes, anytime something new is developed or implemented, someone is going to try to find a way to use it to commit fraud or do some bad thing. Believe it or not, everything has risks.
If you folks had been aroun
Re:Biometric is not secure (Score:2)