PayPal Tests Facial Recognition

PayPal Tests Facial Recognition

www.thestreet.com

PayPal is jumping on the trend of using one's own body for verification purposes, announcing it's started to test a mobile app feature that allows users in the UK to make purchases using a facial verification system.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I see multiple purposes for this:

1. Doing away with cash and other tangible forms of monetary value.

2. Increased surveillance and personal data gathering.

3. The ability to deny access to one's money for any reason the controllers of this system deem appropriate.

In other words, it appears we're well on our way to what our Christian friends talk about in Revelation 13:15-18.

What do you feel the implications of this system are? Do you believe the "implantable chip" scare was just a smokescreen and this is actually the final step, or is this just a step towards the "implantable chip"? Lastly, in your estimates, how long before we see this implemented on a wide-scale basis?

www.thestreet.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Just hold a picture of the person in front of the phone/computer.

My girlfriend has an HTC that unlocks by using facial recognition. I can unlock it by holding a picture of her face in front of it. It's gimicky at best, and works horribly in low-light situations.

I guess they are trying to make facial recognition apps that require blinking or something, but I haven't seen any out on the market yet.

reply to post by MystikMushroom


I was thinking the same. Personally, I don't think this is the final step. I used to be sure that we'd someday receive microchips implanted into our skin, but I'm not really sure anymore. However, as far as this particular system goes, I can see this as a first step towards retinal scan systems. The film "Minority Report" comes to mind when I think about that type of system.

My nephew was all jacked up yesterday because he got the new Samsung phone that has the "feature" that when you're playing a video, if you turn your head away, it notices, pauses the playback, and restarts it when the ever-present camera notices that you're watching again.

To me, 50 years old and a bit jaded, having your face monitored by a device that we know is connected to the powers that be really seems like a terrible idea, but to him, it was a cool feature.

Makes you wonder what invasive technology they'll be just accepting as "cool" in another couple of decades.

Wow. Now the screws are starting to tighten down in some form of money regulation. I fully understand the reasons for this, and hopefully in the long term this security measure is voluntary.

However, call me pessimistic in the way technology is working against us today... I see this as a stepping stone to implement more biometric technology as a means of security, which means more invasion of your privacy. Maybe for ATMs to get cash, thumbprints at various locations and who knows what else, etc... Not amused.

reply to post by adjensen


I'm 30 and I think that feature is dumb as hell. Talk about a waste of battery power.

"Samsung: We give you all the gimmicks, whether you use them or not!"

Most people I know that have that phone never use those features. It is like Siri and I. Yes, I played with it for a day or two, but it doesn't work very good and it's pretentious as hell to be in public composing a text message out loud. I'm to self-conscious to walk around talking to my phone's AI.

Anywho -- bio-metrics is big business. They already use retinal scanners in the corporate world, and they even have some that will scan a 3-d shape of your hand/fingers and match that up to what's on file.

I was seriously considering getting a fingerprint deadbolt for my front door, they've come down in price and are quite a bit more reliable than in the past. It would be nice to "authorize" certain family members on the door. I'd also never have to worry about being locked out.

EDIT TO ADD:

I was at Wendy's recently for one of those pretzel burgers (they actually are pretty good, I must admit). I noticed that when the cashier logged onto the register, she had to scan her thumbprint. Usually, I thought employees just entered a personal code that identified them.

Nope, even at your local fast food joint they are using bio-metric readers!

reply to post by adjensen


I've seen the commercials for that feature and I've never understood why it's cool. It's not difficult to press the pause button. And if for some reason you have to look away before you have time to press pause, I highly doubt that video is of such great importance that you can't simply replay the parts you missed. All of these invasive features correct problems that never even existed. But with the simple-minded, lazy culture we live in, something that wasn't a problem a year ago, like hitting a pause button, is now a problem simply because the technology to avoid it now exists.

Originally posted by MystikMushroom
Nope, even at your local fast food joint they are using bio-metric readers!

Kroger employees have to use those to clock in. I'm not sure about other retailers, but I know Kroger does that. I don't work there, but I've seen employees do it.

In Texas, you also have to provide your fingerprint to get your driver's license. I'm not sure about other states though.

steal persons phone, find pic of person on their own phone/facebook, crop image, print, hold up to camera, empty paypal account.

Originally posted by adjensen
My nephew was all jacked up yesterday because he got the new Samsung phone that has the "feature" that when you're playing a video, if you turn your head away, it notices, pauses the playback, and restarts it when the ever-present camera notices that you're watching again.

To me, 50 years old and a bit jaded, having your face monitored by a device that we know is connected to the powers that be really seems like a terrible idea, but to him, it was a cool feature.

Makes you wonder what invasive technology they'll be just accepting as "cool" in another couple of decades.

Just look at the Xbox ONE,

I remember people getting Freaked out when they thought the cable companies where putting cams in cable boxes.

Now Microsoft has just tells you from the start they have a cam that needs to be on all the time and connected to the internet to use all the cool features...

Sure...

reply to post by DivisiveConformity

this face recognition was on my laptop and it is a complete pain, in my case I disabled it because it uses your original photo info like a template, and if the lighting is different when you look into the cam, it wont allow you login, so you end up walking around to different lighting areas of your home waiting for it to accept you,,, unless they have advanced on that, it will give a lot of people a lot of grief,,

Based on my own personal experience with Paypal, it is not a company anyone should trust their money with.

reply to post by Biigs


After reading the article again, I don't believe this would work. You "check in" to the store through PayPal, who then sends a picture of you to the store's computer system, and when you "check out", they simply click your face (after getting a look at you, I assume), and the money is transferred.

So, with that kind of system, I don't see how it would be possible to do as you said. However, even if it were, I'm sure this is just the first step before implementing actual facial recognition cameras at the check out line so we don't even have to go through the "hassle" of checking in. It'll be hailed as a "convenience", I'm sure.

reply to post by Schillinger


I'm tired of them and their parent company eBay as well. For those that don't know, this is eBay's scam against sellers:

1. Full payment received from buyer and submitted to PayPal.
2. PayPal deducts PayPal fees which are a percentage of the final total.
3. eBay then later deducts its own fees (including on the shipping you charged) which are ALSO a percentage of the final total. In other words, they charge the percentage against the full, final, pre-fee total, not the total remaining AFTER they charged you with PayPal.

I don't think people realize this scam. That's why eBay doesn't deduct its own fees right away, so that PayPal can deduct a greater amount based on the final total, and then they can go back and still deduct their fees based on the final total as well. It basically forces you to overcharge on both the item and the shipping just to make the money you hoped to make. It's a rip-off.

But anyway, I don't trust PayPal either. That's basically the point of all of that.

I'd say this is a significant step towards implementing a full-fledged, intruvise system in which we'll all strictly be reduced to mere numbers. Whether it will be a RFID chip, or some other device that will keep us contained and subservient, I really don't know.I don't think it's too far-fetched and implausible to say that, considering the covert surveillance and monitoring TPTB already have on us.

Quite the contrary, it would be a bit silly to assume that they're merely experimenting with this, when we already know they're trying to ease us into what's coming under the guise of 'security'. They have certainly overplayed their hand with that tactic so much, that they have conditioned society to remain complacent with whatever 'solution' they fix up for the same problems they have created themselves.

Originally posted by MystikMushroom
Just hold a picture of the person in front of the phone/computer.

My girlfriend has an HTC that unlocks by using facial recognition. I can unlock it by holding a picture of her face in front of it. It's gimicky at best, and works horribly in low-light situations.

I guess they are trying to make facial recognition apps that require blinking or something, but I haven't seen any out on the market yet.

I used to just use muscle control and make my face look like my girlfriends face.

It worked more often than not.

These programs are advancing quickly however, so I'd be worried about this.

Only an idiot would trust biometrics as the only authentication factor. You generally want multi-factor authentication. That is, a password plus a time variant code, password plus thumb print, etc. The rule is you authenticate someone by something they know and something they have.

Having had my paypal account hacked twice, I could tell you stories about what a bunch of wankers they are are far as security goes. And when you get hacked, they won't reveal any information about who did it without a court order. [I found the hacker by a different means, and if I ever get to Morocco, well I'll egg the arsehole's house.]

Regarding thumbprints...well this time the severed hand turned out to be a dolphin flipper, but you never know!
severed hand

This new "technologies" will be welcome with open arms to the zombie generation that are the target of the now agenda by the governments and private interest of surveillance and data mining.

I am an old girl, I don't even own a phone with internet capability, I use paypal for internet transactions, but the day that I will be given the warning that I will need to use my face to use paypal will be the day that I will tell paypal to stick their technology where the sun doesn't shine.

People are complaining of lost of privacy, but they do not realize that they are giving away their privacy everyday in a change of the "marvels of technology".

Government and private companies do not need an Rchip to track you, you already been tracked with your newest gadgets and phones.

reply to post by DivisiveConformity


Add to all you said on the opening page that this could effectively force people to obtain a smart phone, too. We all know the privacy issues associated with those! I personally do NOT WANT ONE. I love my feature phone, and don't need some invasive computer to make calls, and do a few simple tasks.