Nevada
06-15-2005, 10:17 AM
ANY THOUGHTS?
Finger-scan systems coming to Carolinas
Watchdogs raise privacy concerns
JEFF ELDER
Staff Writer
Carolinas retailers are pointing the way when it comes to a cutting edge technology. More than 200 stores and restaurants expect to have finger-scan payment systems by next spring.
With the "biometrics" system, you open an account with a retailer by providing identification and banking records, along with a scan of your finger. After that, all you do to pay is place your index finger in a scanner on the store counter and enter an ID code.
You don't need cash, check or plastic.
Some retailers like finger scanning because it can save them money. The systems also speed up checkout lines and make things more convenient for customers.
But civil liberties watchdogs fear the systems give retailers too much personal information. They also say society should not get too accustomed to the idea of scanning human beings.
Two main biometrics companies -- BioPay of Virginia and Pay By Touch of San Francisco -- say the Carolinas are installing finger-pay technology faster than any other part of the country and will soon be at the forefront of transactions.
"In your region over the next year might be where we really, finally find out if it works," says national biometrics expert Jim Wayman, who was the U.S. expert on biometrics for the Clinton administration. "Is the convenience of not having to reach for your wallet really worth providing a little more information about yourself?"
Lowes Foods plans to install BioPay systems in 10 stores in the Charlotte market this summer. By spring 2006, the chain expects the technology to be in all of its 109 stores -- 106 in North Carolina, said Lowes spokeswoman Diane Blancato.
About 50 other Charlotte-area stores representing 26 retail brands have recently installed BioPay systems or will soon, a spokeswoman said. The retailers include Jersey Mike's Subs, Moe's Southwest Grill and Roly Poly Sandwiches.
BioPay rival Pay By Touch has just finished installing systems in all 82 Piggly Wiggly-owned grocery stores across South Carolina and Georgia. The Charleston-based retailer began trying the system in four S.C. stores last summer and found customers liked it, and stores saved slightly on transactions, said Piggly Wiggly spokeswoman Rita Postell.
She said the company was pleased that 15 percent to 20 percent of the stores' transactions involve the finger scan technology, and there have been no cases of fraud.
BioPay asks consumers to provide driver's license information and a canceled check. BioPay then draws money from a checking account.
Pay By Touch says it provides a "full wallet" -- you can draw money from your checking account, credit card accounts, or by using the system like an ATM. This also means you provide more personal information.
Finger-scanning transactions that draw from checking accounts can save retailers money. They require lower fees from retailers than plastic transactions -- or finger scan transactions that use credit accounts.
Peter Glunt, owner of the Dilworth Coffee House at Quail Corners Shopping Center in south Charlotte, says his BioPay system costs him a nickel per typical transaction. Bank card transactions can cost him up to 20 cents apiece.
Both companies have installed systems elsewhere, and systems are going up across the U.S. BioPay systems are in use in Northern California, Texas and Virginia. Pay By Touch systems are running in Seattle, Chicago, the Twin Cities and other places.
But both companies agree that, because of the Lowes and Piggly Wiggly accounts, the Carolinas are poised to be major sites for the technology.
"You are about to become the largest concentration of biometric merchants in the world," says BioPay President Tim Robinson.
"Right now the Carolinas is leading the way," says Caroline McNally, chief marketing officer of Pay By Touch.
National expert Wayman, now a biometrics researcher at San Jose State University in California, says he doubts adding a scan of your finger to the information that merchants already know about you really opens you up to much greater fraud risk. "But consumers should always be wary of that. The less information you provide, the better."
He's interested to see whether finger scanning catches on.
Alex Stokas is a regular at Dilworth Coffee House at Quail Corners -- he calls it "the best coffeehouse around." But he hasn't given his friend, owner Glunt, his finger-scans for use in the store's system.
"I don't like the whole idea," Stokas says. "Maybe later. I'll let it prove itself first. This might be a thing where, it's just a matter of time."
Finger-scan systems coming to Carolinas
Watchdogs raise privacy concerns
JEFF ELDER
Staff Writer
Carolinas retailers are pointing the way when it comes to a cutting edge technology. More than 200 stores and restaurants expect to have finger-scan payment systems by next spring.
With the "biometrics" system, you open an account with a retailer by providing identification and banking records, along with a scan of your finger. After that, all you do to pay is place your index finger in a scanner on the store counter and enter an ID code.
You don't need cash, check or plastic.
Some retailers like finger scanning because it can save them money. The systems also speed up checkout lines and make things more convenient for customers.
But civil liberties watchdogs fear the systems give retailers too much personal information. They also say society should not get too accustomed to the idea of scanning human beings.
Two main biometrics companies -- BioPay of Virginia and Pay By Touch of San Francisco -- say the Carolinas are installing finger-pay technology faster than any other part of the country and will soon be at the forefront of transactions.
"In your region over the next year might be where we really, finally find out if it works," says national biometrics expert Jim Wayman, who was the U.S. expert on biometrics for the Clinton administration. "Is the convenience of not having to reach for your wallet really worth providing a little more information about yourself?"
Lowes Foods plans to install BioPay systems in 10 stores in the Charlotte market this summer. By spring 2006, the chain expects the technology to be in all of its 109 stores -- 106 in North Carolina, said Lowes spokeswoman Diane Blancato.
About 50 other Charlotte-area stores representing 26 retail brands have recently installed BioPay systems or will soon, a spokeswoman said. The retailers include Jersey Mike's Subs, Moe's Southwest Grill and Roly Poly Sandwiches.
BioPay rival Pay By Touch has just finished installing systems in all 82 Piggly Wiggly-owned grocery stores across South Carolina and Georgia. The Charleston-based retailer began trying the system in four S.C. stores last summer and found customers liked it, and stores saved slightly on transactions, said Piggly Wiggly spokeswoman Rita Postell.
She said the company was pleased that 15 percent to 20 percent of the stores' transactions involve the finger scan technology, and there have been no cases of fraud.
BioPay asks consumers to provide driver's license information and a canceled check. BioPay then draws money from a checking account.
Pay By Touch says it provides a "full wallet" -- you can draw money from your checking account, credit card accounts, or by using the system like an ATM. This also means you provide more personal information.
Finger-scanning transactions that draw from checking accounts can save retailers money. They require lower fees from retailers than plastic transactions -- or finger scan transactions that use credit accounts.
Peter Glunt, owner of the Dilworth Coffee House at Quail Corners Shopping Center in south Charlotte, says his BioPay system costs him a nickel per typical transaction. Bank card transactions can cost him up to 20 cents apiece.
Both companies have installed systems elsewhere, and systems are going up across the U.S. BioPay systems are in use in Northern California, Texas and Virginia. Pay By Touch systems are running in Seattle, Chicago, the Twin Cities and other places.
But both companies agree that, because of the Lowes and Piggly Wiggly accounts, the Carolinas are poised to be major sites for the technology.
"You are about to become the largest concentration of biometric merchants in the world," says BioPay President Tim Robinson.
"Right now the Carolinas is leading the way," says Caroline McNally, chief marketing officer of Pay By Touch.
National expert Wayman, now a biometrics researcher at San Jose State University in California, says he doubts adding a scan of your finger to the information that merchants already know about you really opens you up to much greater fraud risk. "But consumers should always be wary of that. The less information you provide, the better."
He's interested to see whether finger scanning catches on.
Alex Stokas is a regular at Dilworth Coffee House at Quail Corners -- he calls it "the best coffeehouse around." But he hasn't given his friend, owner Glunt, his finger-scans for use in the store's system.
"I don't like the whole idea," Stokas says. "Maybe later. I'll let it prove itself first. This might be a thing where, it's just a matter of time."