Posted on 02/09/2005 11:14:24 AM PST by FreeMarket1
PAYMENT BY FINGERPRINT - A GOOD THING?
Feb 09, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.com
by Michael J. Ross
While politicians in Washington, DC dream up new ways to collect our fingerprints and our tax payments, free-market participants in Washington state are putting into practice a new method that makes it easy for shoppers to use their fingerprints to pay for purchases.
Thriftway (http://www.thriftway.com/), a grocery chain which bills itself as "Washington's Food Store", is seeing greater acceptance of a payment system developed by Pay By Touch (http://www.paybytouch.com/), and first deployed in its Seattle location during 2002. Each shopper at their stores is now able to use nothing more than their fingerprint to verify their identity and pay for their purchase using a credit card previously registered with the store.
The system is proving to be quite popular with Thriftway's patrons, who are increasingly using and even demanding the new payment approach -- likely because it is fast and convenient, as well as being a technological novelty. In fact, one customer even drove 400 miles simply to use the new technology.
The President of the firm, Paul Kapioski, noted that they are gaining more customers who are interested in trying out the system, as well as winning the trust of senior citizens, who appreciate the additional security of not having to carry money to the stores.
Paying by fingerprint has its unattractive side - popular culture associates fingerprinting with criminals. But Thriftway has not experienced a single fraudulent transaction during the 2 1/2 years that the new payment ...................Full Article www.FreeMarketNews.com
We all know that 666 is the number of the Beast. But did you know the other Beastly numbers?
668 - Neighbor of the beast
660 - Approximate Number of the Beast
DCLXVI - Roman Numeral of the Beast
666.0000 - Number of the High-Precision Beast
0.666 - Number of the Millibeast
1/666 - Common Denominator of the Beast
666[-/(-1)] - Imaginary number of the Beast
1010011010 - Binary Number of the Beast
29A - Hexidecimal Number of the Beast
-666 - Negative Number of the Beast
00666 - ZIP code of the Beast
$665.95 - Retail price of the Beast
$699.25 - Price of the Beast plus 5% sales tax
$769.95 - Price of the Beast with all accessories and replacements
$656.66 - Wal-Mart price of the Beast
$646.66 - Next week's Wal-Mart Price of the Beast
$333.00 - After-Christmas sale Price of the Beast
$222.00 - Going Out of Business Liquidation Price of the Beast
Phillips 666 - Gasoline of the Beast
Route 666 - Way of the Beast
665 - Older Brother of the Beast
667 - Younger Brother of the Beast
6-6-6 - Fertilizer of the Beast
666 UP - Soft drink of the Beast
666lb cap - Weight limit of the Beast
666 F - Oven temperature for cooking Roast Beast
666k - Retirement plan of the Beast
666mg - Recommended minimum daily requirement of Beast
6.66% - Five-Year CD rate at First Beast of Hell, $666 Minimum Deposit
1-800-666-6666 - Toll-free number of the Beast
Lotus 6-6-6 - Spreadsheet of the Beast
Word 6.66 - Word processor of the Beast
i66686 - CPU of the Beast
666i - BMW of the Beast
666-66-6666 - Social Security number of the Beast
6/6/66 - Birthdate of the Beast
666.AC.com - URL of the Beast
IAM 666 - License plate number of the Beast
Formula 666 - All-purpose cleaner of the Beast
WD-666 - Spray lubricant of the Beast
66.6MHz - FM radio station of the Beast
666 KHz - AM radio station of the Beast
Chanel No. 666 - The Beast's favorite perfume
666% - What the Beast gives in his game
Colt 666 - Revolver or beer of the Beast
I'm not sure anybody's selling it as a panacea, most folks realize there is no 100% security, but it's better than the current systems.
I even know people in retail that won't use their credit card on the internet, I don't bother explaining things to them.
I thought the main reason was for make-up and feminine hygiene products-- not the obvious like to contain money and credit cards.
consumers are easily seduced into giving up their privacy: "If you were at a McDonald's in downtown Denver, and you agreed to give everyone three free Big Macs, fries, and a shake if they'd sign away their DNA, you'd have 200 people lined up."
They'll use it to retaliate when they know who you are because you rebelled against the establishment. If you don't rock the boat and just blend in, you'll be fine, but they know that they can keep dissenters in line because the dissenters know the government can find them if they decide they want to. Do we want Hillary to have access to this in 2009?
Yesterday I wasn't sure I had enough gas to refill at the station by home on the way from work, so instead I went at lunch to the station near work, which happens every 3 or 4 months. I'm sure the gears stopped at the Big Brother factory and everyone went into red alert when this happened.
Thanks- copied & saved, and I'll use those links.
Until store owners stop accepting cash-- because of the expense of managing it.
Ah yes the usual assortment of links featuring largely disproven urban legends and nightmare scenarios well outside the reach of current or even proposed technology. Read them already, laughed a lot, thanks for the consideration.
It's amazing what info you can get from credit card databases. I've seen it.
"I'm sure the gears stopped at the Big Brother factory and everyone went into red alert when this happened.
"
No doubt. Today, I shopped at a different Cub market than usual, because I was in that neighborhood. I suppose the black helicopters will start circling as soon as the sun goes down. I'd better put some fresh aluminum foil on the windows...the cats have shredded the old stuff.
Hey! There were two legitimate links in your list. What the heck is going on?
"They'll use it to retaliate when they know who you are because you rebelled against the establishment."
They'll use my grocery-buying habits to retaliate against me? How would they do that, do you suppose? You tinfoil-hat guys are pretty funny...you know that?
If I rebel against the "establishment," I sure as heck don't do it in a way that draws attention to myself. The "establishment" would see me going about my usual boring business.
Try to be creative with this stuff, OK? If you're going to do the whole conspiracy theory thing, at least make an attempt to do it well, please.
"They'll use it to retaliate "
You know...if I wanted to find out who's fighting the "establishment," I couldn't do better than to do something like put up some sort of discussion forum and let the dissenters just jabber away about their foolishness.
I'd worry a lot more about that than I would about paying for stuff with a fingerprint, ya know....
It's a lot easier to fool folks into posting their stuff on the internet than it is to try to track them in grocery stores.
Think about it....
That's my point. You can't rebel, if you were so inclined, because they could use all the data they have to track where you'd be likely to be. It's the fear of what the government could do to eff you up that keeps the sheeple in line.
"That's my point. You can't rebel, if you were so inclined, because they could use all the data they have to track where you'd be likely to be. It's the fear of what the government could do to eff you up that keeps the sheeple in line."
You are naive, aren't you? Do you suppose that effective rebellious behavior has to be done in public? In reality, maintaining the appearance of normalcy is crucial, if you're to be a rebel.
Since you have quite a public face, as I note from your FR profile, it will be impossible for you to do anything serious in the way of rebellion.
Sheesh! You young guys haven't a clue, it seems.
So you're saying if I rebelled they'd cut off my Dr Pepper supply? Those fiends!
All these systems are "print-to-PIN" systems. Which means you have to have the print and also the PIN. So, you might cut off someones finger or make a mold or whatever else you can conjure and find out that by gosh you can't steal a bag of Cheetos and a six pack of Bud because you don't have the PIN. No PIN, no "Learning about Cuba, and having some food" as Jeff Spicoli once said.
These systems don't actually hold the print image, they convert the image to data point numbers. Once you press on the device then those numbers are interchanged then you have to enter the PIN.
I doubt anyone will be chopping off uncle Frank's finger then torturing him for his PIN before heading to the grocery. Besides, even the $5.00 an hour checkout girl Sally Joe might notice the blood dripping onto the scanner. (SALLY: Oh my gosh! That's it so gross! I'm not cleaning this!)
So, I suggest that if grandma kicks the bucket and you want to use all her cash at the grocery store make sure you get the PIN from her first then make a gelatin finger (make sure it's the correct finger) from her dead hand (the correct hand too) before you stuff her in the freezer out in the garage.
Personally, I'd prefer that they not use fingerprints and change all the technology over to tongue prints. 1) Just to see who would use it and 2) Just to make watching women checking out at the grocery store more interesting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.