Check It Out: Trading freedom for convenience?

By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com

Mrs. Jones said to her husband, “I got a text from my mom saying she’s not accepting our invitation to visit because she doesn’t feel welcome. What does she mean? Didn’t you ask her to come at her own convenience?” Her hubby replied, “I sent her a text, but I didn’t know how to spell convenience so I used the word risk instead.”

The definition of convenient is “situated so as to allow easy access to”. Now we see that Mastercard (MC) is introducing a new pilot program that could trade convenience for risk for its participants.

MC has introduced a controversial biometric payment for your convenience. The news story asked the question, how convenient would it be to pay at the cash register by simply showing your face or waving your hand?

We are about to find out; MC has just launched a program called Look and Pay at five grocery stores in a South American city in Brazil where customers can authenticate their identity using biometric information. Customers look at the terminal, which scans their face using facial recognition software, allowing the customer to simply smile or wave a hand.

But are these customers waving goodbye to the right to choose, and the right to privacy and freedom? The president of cyber intelligence at MC described the technology as exciting and convenient, because customers no longer have to take out their cards or phone when paying for purchases. MC also claims it would shorten wait times in line-ups, provide more security than a standard card, and would be more hygienic, relating to health concerns witnessed during the past couple of years.

However the media did say not everyone agrees we should share our biometric data. A senior researcher with Human Rights Watch noted, that if biometric data is stolen as part of a breech, or compromised in any other way, it is very difficult to recover and stay closely protected again. On the other hand, when you lose your card, it’s a relatively quick process to cancel it without risking having your biometric data stolen.

The Guardian reported that the project has raised concerns about customer privacy and how the data is collected and stored. Civil rights groups also have concerns. Suzie Miles, a lawyer and partner at Ashfords law firm, raised concerns about data storage, commenting that a password can be changed but your smile and wave cannot. Miles explained that if hacked the risk of fraudulent activity could be considerably higher than current payment methods. Although MC has taken steps to protect and encrypt data, the use of such data will make it more difficult to protect individuals’ rights to privacy.

She also expressed concerns that technology could be used to track, screen or monitor unsuspecting consumers. It’s a valid point since we’ve discovered millions of phones had been tracked during the past two years to see if people were following lockdown regulations.

And we can’t forget about the other new pilot project - Known Traveller Digital Identity (KTDI), in which our government partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF). Canadians were not consulted about joining this pilot project, operated by third-party international organizations. Meanwhile many Canadians are still experiencing the “inconvenience” of travel bans, both within Canada and outside of Canada, without any logical explanation being provided.

If you take a step back and observe all this activity, as well as the introduction of protest laws and censorship to eliminate dissenting voices, MC’s new pilot project may appear much less appealing.

Nevertheless, MC is forging ahead with their pilot project, in an attempt to break into the biometric market, which is worth about $18 billion US dollars. The company reports 74 percent of global consumers have a positive attitude towards biometric technology. MC also claims it is having encouraging conversations with potential partners and is concentrating on launching the technology in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

North America will be next, but is this what we want? Is convenience a priority for you? Are you willing to have your individual power diminished for the sake of convenience? Just asking …

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