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volume 9 • fall 2016
seLected exampLes
Amazon, Google, Mastercard, Alibaba, American Express and PayPal are working or have worked on facial recognition technology designed to make payments quicker and more e cient for consumers. Google’s Hands Free technology, for instance, relies on digital photos and stored payment card details to produce what Google expects will be hands-free transactions.
exampLe oF payments use
The Mastercard pilot, announced in June, creates a pop-up asking for authentication when an online shopper is at the checkout phase. He then is given the option of providing a ngerprint or facial scan, the latter of which requires him to look at his phone’s camera
and blink once (to avoid a scammer holding up a still photo of the user). The photo then is converted to a digital code, which is sent to Mastercard for authentication.
potentiaL depLoyments
A patent application from Amazon Technologies earlier this year de- scribes an anti-fraud system that would authenticate a user by having him perform “an action in view of a camera or sensor.” Software then not only identi es the person but con rms that he is a living being via blinks or other gestures. Once that happens, the technology would
then let the transaction go through. “As people are utilizing computing devices for an increasing variety of tasks, there is a corresponding need to improve the security available for these tasks,” Amazon said.
opportunities
The technology would seem to t within the worldwide culture obsessed with taking sel es, without any of the psychological baggage attached to, say, ngerprints.
downsides
Some researchers worry that facial expressions such as smiles could render the technology less e ective, or that software can get identities horribly wrong and damage brands—in an in- famous case from last year, for instance, Google Photos’ facial recognition software tagged two people as gorillas.
voice
How it works
Software determines identity by language modeling and statistical analysis, distinguishing between sound patterns or other methods.
seLected exampLes
U.K.-based Santander Bank’s voice banking technology; SayPay’s voice recognition technology and one- time token for mobile transactions; ING Netherland’s voice biometrics payment system; Barclay’s voice biometrics for phone banking.
exampLe oF payments use
Leveraging technology from Nuance Communications, the ING product, designed as an alternative
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