If you’re concerned that Amazon might misuse palm print data from its One service, you’re not alone. TechCrunch reports that Senators Amy Klobuchar, Bill Cassidy and Jon Ossoff have sent a letter to new Amazon chief Andy Jassy asking him to explain how the company might expand use of One’s palm print system beyond stores like Amazon Go and Whole Foods. They’re also worried the biometric payment data might be used for more than payments, such as for ads and tracking.
The politicians are concerned that Amazon One reportedly uploads palm print data to the cloud, creating “unique” security issues. The move also casts doubt on Amazon’s “respect” for user privacy, the senators said.
In addition to asking about expansion plans, the senators wanted Jassy to outline the number of third-party One clients, the privacy protections for those clients and their customers and the size of the One user base. The trio gave Amazon until August 26th to provide an answer.
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The company has offered $10 in credit to potential One users, raising questions about its eagerness to collect palm print data. This also isn’t the first time Amazon has clashed with government
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Amazon declined to comment, but pointed to an earlier blog post where it said One palm images were never stored on-device and were sent encrypted to a “highly secure” cloud space devoted just to One content.
Source: Senators ask Amazon how it will use palm print data from its stores (updated) | Engadget
Basically having these palm prints all in the cloud is really an incredibly insecure way to keep all this biometric data of people that they can’t ever change, short of burning their palms off.
Robin Edgar
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