Fingerprint Checkout at Supermarket-Groundbreaking Technology

[chlamor]

Fingerprint checkout at supermarket


Tuesday 15 March 2005, 1:11 Makka Time, 22:11 GMT  

A new technology is set to make payments much easier


Placing one's fingers on a scanner will soon be enough to pay for purchases at a German supermarket chain.

An Edeka store in the southwest German town of Ruelzheim has piloted the technology since November, cutting out on time otherwise wasted scrabbling for coins or cards.

The company plans to equip its stores across the region with the ground-breaking technology.

"All customers need do is register once with their identity card and bank details, then they can shop straight away," said store manager Roland Fitterer.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E6689E13-9AE2-47C0-89E2-497DBD542CD8.htm


My Comment: You are the money-The money is you. Convenience can be creepy.

[slackmaster]

1. One thing I don't like about this

I've had to use hand scanners on the job, and they're totally unsanitary. Great way to spread colds and flu around.

[seriousstan]

4. Have you checked the sanitary conditions of your money lately?

[slackmaster]

6. Yup, that's bad too - I buy more stuff online because of it

The body grunge is much harder to see on currency. On a hand-scan platen it's really obvious.

Why create one more vector for disease? At least they could provide sanitary wipes for people who want them.

[Justin54B20L]

5. As opposed to hard currency? I dunno.

Spent a bit of time in microbiology, swabbing all sorts of different items. You'd be surprised at the amount and kinds of bacteria we found swabbing hard cash.

[shanti]

13. do tell...

how bout some examples?

[seriousstan]

27. How cruddy is our cash? At random, two $20 bills, one $1 bill,

How cruddy is our cash? At random, two $20 bills, one $1 bill, and a quarter were plucked from circulation in New York and checked for germs by a microbiology lab.

Samples were taken from each note and coin by rubbing with a large, moistened cotton swab. Each sample was then stroked onto a small plastic plate containing jellylike agar enriched with blood and other nutrients. The plates were incubated at body temperature for 48 hours. They all grew grayish specks or circles, signaling small colonies of bacteria.

Five types of bacteria were identified: spherical coagulase-negative staphylococci and micrococci; the more rodlike diphtheroids; propionibacteria (a group that includes Propionibacterium acnes, the cause of acne in oily areas); and various species of bacilli. Small bills that get traded a lot are invariably the dirtiest. Our tired-looking single produced the most microbes--all five of the varieties identified. The quarter yielded the least: only two. "Anything that's very hard and dry isn't terribly hospitable to bacteria," according to Joanne Bartkus, a microbiologist with the 3M Company. "And many metals have antibacterial activity," she adds. "Often pennies come off sterile, presumably due to the copper."

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1511/is_n10_v19/ai_21145379

[shanti]

31. ewwwww~

staph?? sorry i asked :eyes:

[kutastha]

42. ...

Staph and P acnes are typical skin flora.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. And 20s also have a high concentration of Coke

I know what you mean.

[northzax]

30. I believe you mean hundreds

no self respecting person would use a 20...

on edit: I mean, I hear. from TV and such. really, I saw it on FOX.

[okieinpain]

44. yeah, and now the government know when you buy condoms.

or exlax.

[Toucano]

2. Convenience IS creepy.

And costly.

No, thanks you. I'll "scrabble" for my coins. It's such a major challenge.

[napi21]

3. I like it! No more lost cards,

or peering over your shoulder to steal the card numbers. It's a great idea.

[pie]

7. I say no no no no to this

Under no circumstances shall I submit

[tx_dem41]

37. Then pay in cash...that's easy enough. n/t

[Career Prole]

8. It will make payments much easier

and one day automatically charge your outstanding parking ticket fines to your account, and summon the police silently.
Anti-government agitator? Forget dinner tonight...those fingerprints won't be getting you groceries any time soon, nor gas. You see, your fingerprints are in that file.

Man, that crap gives me the heebie-jeebies. :scared:

[Norquist Nemesis]

11. Remember the thumbprint required at the bank?

Two or three years ago, this was required to cash a check. I didn't like it at all and I'm glad it's been tossed.

[Career Prole]

14. Ditto. This stuff just spooks me...

They always say about this "security" i.d. check stuff "If you've done nothing wrong you've nothing to worry about".
Unfortunately, "They" and "We" have vastly different ideas nowadays of what's "wrong". I don't want that stuff anywhere, period.

[crossroads]

45. I agree...

I think this is ultimately a bad idea...

[Sugarbleus]

9. So the insanity of "Identity Assurance" in the name of

"convenience"<---yeah right.. is spreading around the world. I DO NOT like what I'm seeing. Not good on any level.

SOME conveniences of this modern age are pretty cool but most are doing double duty with insidious infringement possibilities attached. I DO NOT like it at all.

I want to go back to the old grocery where we stood in line and chatted with other patrons and paid with cash! Life is moving waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast and along with it comes "monitoring" of the population. Fuck that!

[sadiesworld]

10. HELL NO...

let's at least make Big Brother work for it!!!!

[UCLA Dem]

12. this is just a little too big brother for me.

[bobthedrummer]

16. The infrastructure exists in many places, this is Admiral Poindexter's TIA

or something similar extending into the private sector.

[Lizzie Borden]

38. I agree. This is scary Big Brother stuff.

[Mithras61]

15. Why don't we just...

embed an RFID chip in our arm and be done with it?

I happen to LIKE using a card or currency, thank you very much! This reminds me WAY too strongly of a SciFi novel I read as a young man where society was all cash free (they used bracelets to "purchase" things by touching the bracelet to a scanner), and the government used drugs to keep the populace docile...

[parasim]

17. Nice trick to get our fingerprints on file.

Convenience... yeah, right.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Re read where this is happening

Germany, the national Identity Card ALREADY has those fingerprints, aka those fingeerprints are ALREADY on file

[Kellanved]

24. nope

The German ID card has no fingerprints yet. Also, there is not Federal registry; the data is only on the cards and not in a central file.

[yeababy]

19. a guy a work was telling me

this is the "mark of the beast" thing. He says you can find it in the bible and tried to use this to validate the bible. He said how could some fisherman have known about this 2000 years ago if it were not for the fact that God had revealed this.

....Oh brother!

[Demobrat]

21. I love the idea - can't wait.

It means I can go jogging and stop at the supermarket on the way home without carrying any money. I have already been fingerprinted twice and FBI checks run on me for jobs, so my privacy's long gone anyway. Might as well get some convenience out of it.

[concord]

22. This headline made my heart stop

There is absolutely no way I'm going for this. I don't even go for the "CVS card" or the "Stop&Shop" scanner card. The companies know enough about me already. This is one step closer to total loss of freedoms.

Blech!!!

[SoCalDem]

33. My "discount cards" were issued with a fake name

and fake phone number., I like the discounts though :)

[AirAmFan]

23. Just think of the possibilities for fraud!

As this technology is rolled out, the "magic of the marketplace" will provide criminals with surreptitious ways to harvest fingerprints from door handles, fences at tourist attractions, and any other places where people might rest their hands for a moment. People will be walking around with their hands folded behind their backs!

[parasim]

25. No kidding!

That's a reason to protest this nonsense right there!

It would kind of be like every time you touch a doorknob, you're leaving your social security number behind.

Of course, that would probably open up a new market for gloves. Of course, they'd probably come up with some new name for them, like "hand condoms" or some such...

[Daphne08]

26. '1984' should be required reading for all human beings.

[Spinzonner]

28. Could bring a whole new meaning to Five-Finger Discount

[The Doctor.]

29. hmmmm....

Time to start my finger collection.

[BiggJawn]

32. Oh, how LOVELY!

"Time wasted scrabbling for coins or cards"

What a pant-load! Bet you didn't know you were WASTING so much of your precious miserable life, moments that you could better spend jerkin-off to internet porn, didja?

Blank Reg, save us!

[VegasWolf]

34. This technology is really far superior to anal probe identification

technology at the checkout stand.

[chlamor]

35. UPC code tattoed to forehead and slide me across the scanner

Brave New Consumer

:headbang:

[Paulie]

36. Ever read the book "Jennifer Government"?

She has a UPC tatooed on her face. :)

[chlamor]

39. No should I?

Recommendation? Could use a good work of fiction to release my mind from the neocons well works of fiction.

[Morose]

40. Been seeing this at Albertsons here in Oregon

for a couple months now.

Wouldn't it just be easier if they microchipped me and got it over with?

If I become a Luddite, rest assured, I'll be a PROUD LUDDITE! :D

[ConcernedCanuk]

41. Great idea!

.
.
.

And when they put them on pay-toilets,

Big Brother will even know when and where you take a crap!

:eyes:

[hunter]

43. Hooray! Free Groceries!!!!

Oooops...

Pretend I didn't say that.

[Piperay]

46. What if you put glue

on your finger tips before you went through the scanner, seems like that would f*ck things up. :evilgrin: