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| Amazon pays $10 for your fingerprint |
When you enroll your biometrics into Amazon One, the fingerprint recognition system, Amazon will provide you with a $10 credit limit.
The action was: People must link their fingerprints to an Amazon account in order to receive rewards. Good thing it is not clear where it is available.
The company launched Amazon One last September as a simple payment method in corporate stores and as a futuristic identity service that can be used elsewhere and in businesses.
The user places their hand on the company's scanner and the scanner recognizes unique fingerprints based on surface details (such as line patterns) and subcutaneous features (such as veins and skin patterns).
This information can be used to verify in-store payments. It can also replace tickets and the like.
Amazon has indicated that it will store mobile data indefinitely unless you choose to delete the data after there are no pending transactions or you haven't used the feature in two years.
Amazon One, which is currently available at 50 locations across the US, including whole food stores and Amazon Go stores, announced in April of this year that thousands of customers had signed up for the service. Although the company has not publicly discussed this measure.
Amazon pays for your fingerprints
The retail giant has introduced Amazon One as a quick, convenient, and contactless way for people to come in with their hands, introduce themselves and pay. However, critics say this technology is unnecessary and has similar advantages to contactless payment cards, but there are potential security risks.
“The advantage of handprints is that they are always by your side,” said Robin Benz, a security researcher and scientist at the University of Oxford. It is something that cannot be lost. But it's also a drawback because you can never change it.
"You can't change your palm like you can change a password or any other identification code," he added.
Many people are concerned about companies like Amazon, especially the collection of such data. The company has been criticized in the past for selling biased facial recognition algorithms and expanding its network of police-connected home security cameras.
The company clearly wants other companies to use Amazon One as an identity service. This allows Amazon to track people in a wide range of physical locations (such as stores, office buildings, stadiums, etc.).