Forget paying with your phone… just use your finger
Forbes magazine reported that the grocery chain, Piggly Wiggly and Pay By Touch are going to provide just that for their customers, the ability to pay by touch. Customers' fingerprints would be scanned at the checkout counter and the scanned image would then be pre-linked to their checking or credit card accounts.
I can hear the privacy-crazy people now: "You mean they keep a record of your fingerprint?" Well, not exactly. Here's how it works: When you first enroll, the system uses an image of your fingerprint to find between 35 and 40 points of distinction on the fingerprint to create a unique mathematical algorithm--essentially a string of numbers. That algorithm is then encrypted and sent to a secure data center run by IBM. The only time it's retrieved is when you present your finger to pay again.I am a big proponent of voting online. Many critics are cautious about this because they are worried about fraud. Well, if every computer had a touch screen and the ability to distinguish fingerprints, why wouldn’t we vote online? And for those who still don’t have computers in their homes or that feature on their computers, they could go down to the voting station and use a similar machine there. It would really speed up the process and I think increase turnout because it would be just too easy. Again, making it easier on the user will make them more willing to participate.
7 Comments:
Hmmmm. That's really interesting. I'm trying to figure this out... as I'm sure you know, there were allegations that the "black box" voting machines in the 2004 election - the ones with proprietary code - were programmed to actually switch Kerry votes to Bush votes. I heard witnesses on radio and the web saying they saw it happen with their own votes. So, couldn't that still happen with your plan? (Great idea, though, as it fixes other concerns.)
If the technology works, then it seems that using a fingerprint scan would be much more secure than a credit card. Anyone can get all the numbers needed to imitate a credit card, but your fingerprint would act as something of a secure pin number that cannot be forged. Still, it is a little creepy (Gattaca allert!).
As for voting by computer, I think the big question definitely involves fraud. How could we be sure the finger-scanner attached to the voter's computer hadn't been tampered with? That the vote isn't being sent by someone else? Of course, we have the exact same problems with absentee voting by mail...
I am also a big fan on voting online. I believe that finger prints are the most secure ID. I just think that voting online is a matter of patience and education. You have to teach your voters to change the voting proccess. Last year in Ecuador we had for the first time, just in one precint, the electronic vote.
Voting in these machines was really simple, but people were not used to it. Some of them were scared and worried of fraud. Others, like old people or indigenous were so scared of the machine that they prefered not to vote.
It was a good start, but it is a change that takes time, money and education.
Why does it always seem like the corporate world is so far advanced compared to the public sector? Maybe it is because they have money, maybe it is because our political system is SUPPOSED to be slow to be fair, but either way, we need to start taking technology from the corporate world and use it in the political world A LOT more!
Sure...sounds great until people start cutting people's fingers off.... i think I will take my chances with the current piece of plastic, thank you very much!
Sure...sounds great until people start cutting people's fingers off.... i think I will take my chances with the current piece of plastic, thank you very much!
Yeah, who says they won't start capturing your fingerprint. (devil's advocate)
On the voting technology, it seems like a good idea, provide there is a back up in case the machine isn't recognizing your prints (maybe you burned yourself).
My big beef with the new voting machines is there's no paper record, at least in MD. They just put it on an electonic card, like a hotel key. How do I know it's not going to get scratched up or put next to a magnet? Too much room for tampering.
This may be a plus though: some online voting machines make you go through EVERY question and EVERY position before you check out. What will this mean for elections? More voters for down ticket - do parties become more important? Name recognition?
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