Results: Palm Payments

Imagine a future where you can do just about anything simply by waving your hand: making purchases, taking the subway or letting yourself in at the office. In China, Tencent is already doing it. The Shenzhen-based tech giant has rolled out a palm scanning service in China that's designed to let users leave most of their essentials at home: their house keys, wallets or phones. The software allows users to ditch their smartphones or transit cards when hopping on a Beijing subway line, for example, by hovering their hands over a sensor. Infrared cameras then analyze the individual palm prints and unique patterns of veins under the skin, allowing each user to be identified and payment to be processed within seconds. Would you be interested in using palm payments?

While many consumers have embraced it as a way to reduce their reliance on credit cards and cell phones, privacy and security concerns remain high, noted Edward Santow, industry professor of responsible technology at the University of Technology Sydney. "People … don't want to participate in some kind of surveillance state," he said. "They don't want [that] whenever they're making a payment for something, for that then to show up on some official register, and then to be asked questions, or worse, about it." In response, Tencent told CNN that security and privacy are its utmost priority. Users' biometric data is stored on the cloud and encrypted for security, it said. if palm payment was available in the US and Canada, would you be concerned about privacy and security?