Free Republic

Over the next month, Dining Services will be testing a pilot program that uses a scan of an individual’s palm in place of his or her MaineCard. The program uses infrared technology to recognize the meal plan user’s palm and links that image to that person’s MaineCard account. “Instead of swiping your MaineCard, the program is going to identify you by the palm of your hand,” said Benny Veenhof, director of technology management at UMaine. “It takes a snapshot of the veins and creates a black pattern that it then converts into an encrypted algorithm.”