From http://www.allearsnet.com/pl/fingerscan.htm Ticket Tag Finger Scans For Passes Finger scans. Just the mere mention of it suggests something out of a Star Trek movie. But finger scans at Walt Disney World are not evil. In fact, they are a necessity if you purchase any current WDW admission media. Hopefully this will take some of the fear of the unknown out of doing a finger scan for your park admission. In early 1996, Disney began a new system to identify users of annual and seasonal passes. Abandoned was the barcoded laminated photo ID pass in favor of a new mylar paper one. This new pass had no photo and only contained minimal visual evidence of ownership - your name and the expiration date of the pass. What was new was the magnetic strip on the back. This magnetic strip stored all of your pass information that the previous photo one had plus it would reference one new piece of information: your biometric finger scan or as Disney now calls it, your ticket tag. Disney expanded the use of the ticket tag system in 2005 with the introduction of Magic Your Way tickets and then expanded it to include all tickets no matter when purchased. The original scanners used two fingers inserted in a "V" shape. The original scanners required visitors to insert two fingers into a reader that identified key information about the shape of the fingers. In 2006, Disney started upgrading their scanners with single finger scanners. The single finger scanners scan one fingertip for its fingerprint information but does not store the entire fingerprint image, but only numerical information about certain points. Why does Disney need my fingerprints? The original admission system has nothing to do with your fingerprints. It scans your index and middle fingers (on two finger scanners) and uses a geometric formula to come up with a number that will identify your fingers. The calculated number is apparently something that is not totally unique, but is statistically significant in identifying you. The single finger scanners scan one fingertip for its fingerprint information. How long will Disney keep this information? The data on the scans is kept independent of all of any other system and will be purged 30 days after the ticket expires or when the computer determines that it is fully used up. What admission media require the use of ticket tag finger scans? Effective January 2, 2005, all current WDW admission media will use the finger scans. Effective June 20, 2005, all WDW admission media including ones purchased prior to 2005 will use finger scans. Does everyone that has one of those passes have to use the finger scan system? Yes and no. Finger scans are not required for any child passes for children under age 10. Nor are they required for handicapped people who cannot use the finger scanners. If you personally prefer not using the finger scanners, a photo ID can always override the use of biometrics. Just present the gate CM a photo ID and be admitted without using the scanner. Otherwise, you will have to use the finger scanners to get in. How does the scanner know that it is my fingers, not someone else's? Because the first time that you use the pass, your initial biometric reading will be recorded. This is the reading that all subsequent admissions will be compared to. The scanner uses six lasers to take a picture of the contours of your fingers. If you are wearing a ring the first time you scan and the second time you are without the ring, it will not recognize you. If you use three fingers instead of 2, it will not recognize you. If you use the opposite hand, it will not recognize you. And if you wear gloves, it will not recognize you.<!-- / message --><!-- edit note -->
A grocery store close to here will allow you to use your thumbprint instead of having to write checks.
Will they implant the chip for you as well? Maybe help you up into the cattle car? Or maybe pour the special kool-aid for you? It would be a cold day in H*LL before I would ever shop there!!!
Aw, c'mon.... It's for your convenience. Think of all the time you'll save not having to write out those long, time consuming checks.
Likewise, the store in mention is an Albertson's they use Pay by Touch. Some people just have no clue and think that conveniences will make the world a better place. Idiots just like the author below! One-Fingered Discount At The Grocery Store Arik Hesseldahl, 06.17.05, 10:00 AM ET NEW YORK - On my next swing through South Carolina and Georgia I'm going to make sure I stop in a Piggly Wiggly grocery store. The retail chain with the highly uncool name has teamed with a company called Pay By Touch to do something I think is pretty cool: Let customers pay for their groceries at the register by scanning a fingerprint, which then links to their checking account or credit card. Pay By Touch is a small privately held outfit based in San Francisco. This week, I met John Morris, its new president and COO. Morris joined last month, after 23 years at IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people ), where he ran its $5 billion distribution sector for the Americas, which included selling gear to retailers. Grocers, he says, sweat over seconds and track the average time it takes to get a customer through the check-out line. The faster the better. A transaction using a paper check takes on average about 64 seconds; credit card transactions take 40 to 45 seconds; debit cards about 35; and cash about 29, which includes the "fumble factor"--allowing the clerk to count out change. "Retailers love anything that can speed that up," he says. Once a consumer is enrolled with the Pay By Touch system, they can pay in as little as 14 seconds by holding their finger up to a scanner and entering a number--usually their home phone number, to add a little extra layer of authentication. The Pay By Touch terminal looks like your standard grocery story credit/debit card terminal. It has the keypad, where you swipe a card and punch in a personal ID number, but there's an extra piece attached to it about the size of a PC mouse with a fingerprint scanner. I can hear the privacy-crazy people now: "You mean they keep a record of your fingerprint?" Well, not exactly. Here's how it works: When you first enroll, the system uses an image of your fingerprint to find between 35 and 40 points of distinction on the fingerprint to create a unique mathematical algorithm--essentially a string of numbers. That algorithm is then encrypted and sent to a secure data center run by IBM. The only time it's retrieved is when you present your finger to pay again. The phone number is used as an added layer of security to ensure the person presenting the fingerprint matching the stored algorithm really is that person. Morris says they use the phone number because it's easy to remember, but almost any seven digit number will work for the purpose. Pay By Touch has about two dozen patents on its technology, the underlying hardware and technology was developed by Cogent Systems, (nasdaq: COGT - news - people ), a company based in South Pasadena, Calif., which specializes in selling fingerprint security systems to governments. Already Piggly Wiggly is deploying the system across its entire 120-store territory, and Morris says others will be coming online before the end of year. Indeed, one of them is ready for a 2,000-store rollout. The technology is a natural fit for grocery chains such as Albertsons (nyse: ABS - news - people ), Safeway (nyse: SFW - news - people ), Kroger (nyse: KR - news - people ) or Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people )--and even fast food outfits like McDonald's (nyse: MCD - news - people ). Here's another reason retailers like pay-by-fingerprint transactions: They're not only faster, but cheaper. When a customer pays with a credit card, a bunch of extra fees--about 60 to 70 cents--must be paid by the retailer to process the transaction. Debit cards can cost 45 cents. And though it sounds like pocket change, it adds up. Credit card payment processor First Data (nyse: FDC - news - people ), a $10 billon (2004 sales) payment processing giant based in Denver, took in $3.8 billion in merchant fees last year. Morris says the interchange fees with Pay By Touch range from 12 to 14 cents. Say you've got 100 customers paying with credit cards. You might pay $60 in processing fees for their transactions. Convince half of them to pay with a fingerprint scan, and the same 100 transactions might run you $36. But I'm more interested in being able to leave home without my wallet. When the weather's warm, I like to walk around Central Park, and I usually take a little cash to buy a bottle of water on the way home. How much easier would it be to pay with a fingerprint? And if you happen to forget your wallet, you're covered. One Seattle-area Thriftway supermarket using the technology happens to be near a retirement home. Older customers, Morris says, say they worry a bit about carrying their wallets and purses on the street and like using the fingerprint system, because they don't have to carry cash or credit cards and can relax. Take it a step further. If you've got kids who are old enough to go to the corner video store by themselves, you could authorize them to rent videos on your account, which prohibits them from renting movies that are too violent or have only a certain rating. Is it secure? Those likely to commit credit card fraud tend to self-select themselves out of the system at the thought of submitting a fingerprint scan. Instead, they'll likely stick to the usual means of credit card fraud by theft, deception and subterfuge. If nothing else, it's caused me to make plans to set foot in a store called Piggly Wiggly. That's some pretty powerful technology right there. Link
The mention of biometrics usually reminds me of the scene in Demolition Man where Simon Phoenix yanks the eye of the warden to fool the retinal scan. Fox News 2015: " A five year government study has found that dismemberment crimes are on the increase". "In unrelated news, Police have been unable to figure out how thieves are bypassing the recently introduced biometric security measures"
