SCDigest
Editorial Staff
SCDigest Says: |
The Pay by Touch failure could confirm US consumers are sensitive to privacy concerns that may be similar to some issues posed by RFID. Another question – where did all that fingerprint data go? Could another company buy Pay By Touch’s assets and acquire the biometric data? There may be similar concerns about RFID.
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Shoppers in stores across the country were surprised last Thursday to find that the service that enabled them to check out and pay for groceries with just a fingerprint was suddenly gone, as the company offering the technology closed its doors.
The day before, Solidus Networks, Inc., whose Pay By Touch division managed the biometric service, said on its web site that it “regretfully announced that it will no longer process biometric transactions on behalf of its merchant customers and consumer membership base, as of 11:59:59PM March 19, 2008.”
The company had filed for bankruptcy protection in December. As part of the company's restructuring, it was determined that the enterprise could no longer support the biometric authentication and payment system as it currently exists, based on lack of funding and current market conditions.
A number of retailers had deployed the system, ranging from giants such as the Chicago-area Jewel’s chain and SuperValu, to three-store chain Dorothy Lane Markets in the Dayton area.
The basic idea: customers that signed up had credit card data linked to their fingerprints. Upon checkout, all that was needed to pay was a finger on a biometric reader – no cash, credit card, or check required. Pay by Touch made a small fee on each fingerprint transaction.
There are mixed reports on the success of the system. Jewel’s has said more than 10,000 customers had signed up. However, some retailers have reported that in the US, customers have been in general leery of giving up their biometric data. Clearly, not enough customers were making fingerprint payments to keep the business going.
Several major theme parks, such as Universal Studios and Disney World in Florida and elsewhere, use fingerprint scans not for payment but to validate guests who purchase multi-day passes. This prevents customers from giving away or selling the passes to others for later days covered by the ticket.
(RFID and Automatic Identification Article - Continued Below) |