The New World technology rave has taken paying for food stuff and groceries in stores to another level as Amazon introduces pay-by-palm technology.
The service is called Amazon One and it works by allowing customers to hover{ their hand over a scanner for the purpose of identification, making payments, and accessing their Prime membership benefits. The pay-by-palm technology will be available in all US Whole Foods stores by the end of the year.
Carrying cash or wallets will soon fade away as Whole Foods shoppers in the United States won’t have to bring their wallets to go grocery shopping anymore. Amazon said on Thursday that all US Whole Foods locations will have the Amazon One’s palm payment system installed before too long.
“By the end of this year, all 500+ Whole Foods Market locations in the US will offer Amazon One for payment and Prime membership benefits,” Amazon said.
Amazon kick started the technology at Amazon Go stores in Seattle in the year 2020, and has now expanded to include some Panera Bread locations and Denver’s Coors Field.
The system uses biometrics to scan palms as a way to verify and confirm an individual’s identity; this is similar to how law enforcement departments collect and store fingerprints.
The company’s handling of biometric data has no doubt raised some concerns in the past. In March, Amazon was sued over New York City’s biometric surveillance law, and in 2021, US senators sent Amazon CEO Andy Jassy a letter questioning Amazon’s data collection practices and how secure they are.
The letter partly reads: “Amazon One reportedly uploads biometric information to the cloud, raising unique security risks. Ensuring the security of user data and protecting consumer privacy are of the utmost concern.”
In response, Amazon affirmed that Amazon One “was designed in accordance with Amazon’s long-standing privacy policies and controls.” The company also said that the palm prints are not stored on the palm-reading devices and that palm data is kept secure by both technical and physical means, and people can sign up for Amazon One free of charge.
