Body Scanning Can Secure Transactions

For Paul Kapioski, owner of a Thriftway gourmet grocery store franchise in Seattle, paying for groceries has gotten a lot easier — and a lot more secure.

Now, instead of using his credit or debit card to pay for his food, he uses the index finger of his right hand, which he places in a fingerprint reader at the register. After punching in his access code, the register asks him from which account he would like to pay — checking, credit card or debit card. Without pulling out his wallet, he indicates his choice. The amount is properly debited and he gets a receipt.

If this sounds like a scenario from the future, think again. It's one of the many ways a new technology called "biometrics" is reshaping the way consumers will do everything from paying for groceries to securing their financial transactions at the bank or online.

"I don't have to reach into my pocket and pull out my wallet and find the card I want to use," Kapioski says, adding some 4,000 of his customers have also opted to pay for their groceries the same way since 2001. "I don't even need to have my wallet and the whole process takes about two minutes."

Look for Biometrics at Your Local Bank

Biometrics is the term for the technology used to capture and encode any human characteristic in order to identify people during financial or other transactions, or when people wish to access secure places.

Readings can be taken from fingerprints, the eye's iris, the sound of the voice or the shape of the face and hands. In the future, DNA may even be used, experts said. In the next few years, such technology may be used at bank ATMs instead of cards, or in lieu of a password and I.D. for online banking.

"The place that consumers will likely see biometrics in next couple of years from financial services is at the ATMs and branches," said Ryan Kalember, a senior security consultant for VeriSign Inc., an E-commerce security and communications company based in Mountain View, Calif.