There is an epidemic among mobile phone users: The selfie. I cannot begin to relay my passionate dislike for the rise of narcissistic photography that has taken hold of pretty much every young person I see on the street. Sure, that makes me sound like the old woman standing on my porch yelling at kids to get off my lawn, but when I’m trying to navigate busy city streets and someone stops short in front of me to capture the way the sun is glinting off their sunglasses, I want to scream. With this in mind, could the selfie actually be used for good in this world? MasterCard seems to think so. Biometric solutions (facial recognition, fingerprint scanners, or checking the customer’s heartbeat) instead of passwords are looking to be the future of online security. From CNBC:
Ann Cairns, head of international markets for MasterCard, told CNBC that biometric checks had been trialed in the U.S. and the Netherlands, and that the company will be launching them in the U.K. soon.
“I think the whole biometric space is a great way of protecting yourself when you are doing payments,” she said. “There are a whole range of biometrics that say ‘I’m me, I’m making a payment’ and it just makes the whole thing more secure.”
Biometric solutions could include facial recognition, fingerprint scanners or checking the customer’s heartbeat using wearable technology such as smartwatches.
Well played, MasterCard. Well played.
Also see: How to Avoid Taking a Bad Selfie
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