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"Maybe I'm paranoid, or old, or both, but when I'm at Cub Foods, I will keep writing checks ...
- Writer Doug Moe "in an article from "The Capital Times" out of Madison, WI
Welcome to my Biometric Payment Blog.
As biometric payments gain in popularity, it seemed time to create a blog that addresses common misperceptions regarding this new payment system.
It's understandable to have concerns over whether something is safe to use, but what I don't agree with, is when the media doesn't take the time to do any research whatsover, and instead, publishes their personal, unwarranted attacks on biometrics without taking the time to compare this new type of payment system with existing ones.
I'll start with an article that ran in The Capital Times, written by Doug Moe. Upon reading the article, I e-mailed the "The Capital Times" and they published a new, much more consumer friendly overview of biometric payments.
Click Below to Read the Original Article Published on Thursday
Cash Is Safer Than The Fingertip
From The Capital Times, Thu Jan 26 2006:
"CALL ME paranoid, but I don't want to pay for a loaf of bread with my finger. The opportunity presented itself over the weekend at my neighborhood grocery store, the Verona Road Cub...
Now let's take a look at the second article that The Capital Times published the day after I e-mailed them how silly it was for Moe to state his paranoia in an article...and two days after the original article:
Read the Second Article
Fingertip Payment: Cub Foods Has New 'Touch'
From The Capital Times, Sat Jan 28 2006: Madison shoppers have a new way to pay. A biometric payment system that allows you to pay for groceries with your finger was installed last week at Cub Foods' three area stores. It's the...
Let me quote Doug Moe again from the original article:
"A paranoid is just someone in possession of all the facts." Well, Moe,allow me to redefine your paranoia, because you don't have the facts. If you did, you would prefer biometrics to writing checks. I'm about to show you why. So with that said, let us end where we started with another of your brilliant guidelines to life:
"Well, as I said, maybe I'm paranoid, or old, or both, but when I'm at Cub I will keep writing checks"
Let's take a look at ol' Moe's safe, non-paranoid, payment instrument of choice.(click the check to enlarge)
There are, count 'em, 9 reasons to be paranoid about writing checks
They all provide "critical" personal financial information Moe.
I'll bet our man Moe has his "social security" or "driver's license" number on his checks.
How Many Moe checks will he write before his ID is stolen by some stooge?
On the Other Hand, Let's Put Our Finger on
Why Biometrics Provide a More Secure Transaction:
With Pay By Touch, in order to steal their financial information, you would need to be able to look under finger and guess which 40 data points are being measured. Now come up with 960 more (there can be more than 1000 data points on a finger) Finally, reverse engineer these data points into a fingerprint. Done yet? Now give it electrolytes, warmth or a pulse. Now you can use the fingerprint to steal funds. Wait, not yet, I almost forgot: Please enter their 7 digit PIN number. Okay, your done.
