At least 7 Bay Area Whole Foods are getting creepy Amazon One palm scanners
A multinational tech company is once again expanding the scope of its biometric data collection by adding a decidedly minuscule customer service improvement.
Amazon, which owns Whole Foods, is installing its Amazon One palm-scanning payment devices at 65 California locations, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday. After calling around, SFGATE confirmed that at least seven Whole Foods locations among the 13 in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley are close to rolling out Amazon One, likely around the end of August. Four Whole Foods respondents said they either haven't heard anything about Amazon One or were told they won't be part of the expansion program for now. Two locations declined comment. SFGATE is not naming the individual stores because respondents were not authorized to speak with the media.
Amazon One "simplifies everyday interactions" and is a "free, contactless service that lets you use your palm to pay, enter, or identify yourself," according to Amazon. Interested first-time users swipe their credit card, enter their phone number and hover their hand over the scanning device, which then allows Jeff Bezos's company to store an image of what they say is an encrypted "unique palm signature." The next time you go to Whole Foods, you can simply hold your palm over the scanner, rather than taking two seconds to tap your credit card on a credit card reader, in order to pay for groceries.
