This makes me somewhat more grateful to live out in the boonies. I never use a credit card, I pay with cash. We don't have regular grocery stores here, so we don't have those cards. When we left Houston almost 4 years ago, they already had those cards that would get you "better deals" so I had one. It bothered me some back then because I knew they could keep track of everything I bought. Not that I have anything to hide, but it is somewhat personal, especially concerning women's products and such. I have to admit I miss my favorite Randell's though.
One of the things I saw happen here in Ohio was small town grocers either set up for the cards or were not able to do business with the 'foodstamp' program (by cards here I mean the smart cards they replaced the paper foodstamps with). As a switch to biometric is made this will happen again. Adding to that one can see that in order for the small time grovery store to get their supplies they may have to buy using biometrics to supply their own stores, and over time these things will become normalized.
A mass rollout will take a few years but the foundation has been laid. I am reading "BIOMETRICS AND THE FUTURE OF MONEY" online right now, which is from: WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1998, U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Committee on Banking and Financial Services,
(Sorry about the caps, cut and pasted...)
I am also reading the EU directives on this subject. Data integration across global boundaries is of concern, as is data selling and usage without consent (ie your personal biometric data being available to agencies and third party companies, so your voice, iris, fingerprint, etc may all well be quasi-public domain while still being 'private').
I have read and am reading legal documentation on it, pretty fascinating stuff - but to me true privacy comes from using cash - something entirely lost in the governments desire to implement this. If you want any of the links I am ready let me know (same for anyone on the thread).