TeamRecently, Amazon launched the Amazon One, a new technology that allows shoppers to pay for stuff via a simple scan of their palm. With the analysis of your hand’s shape and unique veins’ configuration, Amazon believes their technology can verify a person’s identity just as it is done for facial recognition. However, the bigger question is, how does this technology work?
While Amazon claims this technology is solely for payment purposes, many persons believe the tech giants may have more superficial ambitions for this innovation. Amazon One claims the palm scan payment method will serve as a medium for shopping and a replacement for tickets at sporting and music events. Other applications may include an office keycard, allowing you to gain entry with a hand swipe. Hence, it is safe to claim that the Amazon One technology isn’t primarily a payment technology. Instead, it is an identity innovation that allows individuals to reach a better life than it could’ve ever been.
And, of course, not only users are worried about the usability, and particularly, privacy concerns. Experts are equally concerned. Nonetheless, whether the Amazon One tech is used for identify recognition just like facial recognitions, used for payments, or even to build a network of surveillance cameras, Amazon is an establishment that has proven its disregard for individual privacy severally. So, another question we should ask ourselves is, apart from payment can Amazon One know our precise identity using our palms?
How exactly Does Amazon One Works?
Firstly, let us examine the technology itself – this is a more straightforward way of examining the functionality of the technology. Palm scanning has arguably been in existence for years; despite Amazon offering the minutest details about their technology, it pans out to be extremely similar to technologies we have experienced before.
The Palm Scanning Payment Method is said to be more secure than a few other biometric methods
As explained on Amazon’s FAQ page, the Amazon One technology use minute palm characteristics to verify users’ identities. Such characteristics include ridges, surface-area lines, vein patterns, etc.
This technology uses infrared light to scan your vein, penetrating through the skin’s surface layer – amazon doesn’t specifically mention this, though, but it is just a logical assertion. Amazon says that anyone can register for Amazon One by simply scanning their credit card using any of Amazon One’s scanners and registering the credit card on either or both of their palms. This allows the scanner to identify individuals as soon as possible without skin contact.
Advantages of Amazon One Palm Scanning
Security-wise, palm scanning offers a few benefits more than traditional biometrics. First, palm-scanning information isn’t easily observable, unlike other biometric methods, such as fingerprints or facial recognition through distance photographs or objects that you must have recently touched. We don’t think it is possible to logical enough to snap an individual’s palm, using it to spoof such an individual’s vein patterns.
Palm-scanning information is also easier to incorporate for liveness tests, checking if the person in front of you is actually human and not some sort of robot. Arguably, it is the securest and most accurate source of information, depending on the implementation of the technology.
Final Thoughts
The major worry about the palm-scanning payment methods is its tendency to go beyond data collection. Apart from this, it has proven to be one of the best and safest means of identifying and paying bills. This article walks you through how this technology works, making you prepared to scan your palm and pay for everything you want.
Thankfully, Amazon One doesn’t need an Amazon to account for registration. Check out the “how it works” section of this article to find out how to register.
