Some privacy experts are concerned with the tech giant collecting biometric data.
Want $10 from Amazon? Hand over your palm print.
The company is now offering store credit in exchange for a digital scan of a customer’s palm, all in a bid to promote its new palm signature technology, which allows customers to pay for goods at their brick-and-mortar stores with a wave of their hand instead of a physical credit card, according to reports.
The promotional flyer was shared by TechCrunch, which claimed customers can receive their credit when signing up in-store. A credit will be issued to the user’s Amazon account to be used for any online purchases.
Amazon did not respond to Inside Edition Digital's request for comment about the promotion.
Amazon declined to comment to Insider on the initiative. In April, Amazon told Insider that customers' biometric data was safely stored. In April, Amazon told Insider customers' handprints were deleted if shoppers get rid of their account or if they are inactive for two years.
The tech giant launched the program, Amazon One, in September 2020 with the goal of providing a “fast, convenient, contactless identification service,” according to its website. To use Amazon One, customers have to hold their palm over a scanner, which will then recognize the hand’s unique lines, ridges and veins and identify who the customer is, according to Amazon.
The palm scan payment technology is currently available in 50 U.S. locations, including some Whole Food stores and Amazon Books locations.
But the company’s collection of biometric data has some cyber security authorities worried over privacy concerns.
Amazon has also been criticized in the past for pushing privacy-sensitive products, including Key by Amazon, which allows Amazon couriers to let themselves into a customer’s home and leave packages inside. That technology can only be utilized if the user has an Amazon Smart Lock installed on the front door, an Amazon security camera running inside their home, and an app on a user’s phone that controls the technology.
