Dispel your Mark of the Beast phobia, citizen!

A company named Indivos is trying to take biometrics to a new level, by replacing 100 million credit cards with fingerprint scanners.

The juicy comments are in a PDF file, which are also printed in the article above. The home page for the Biometric Consortium Conference is here.

And, as Invi Indivos' website makes clear:

[this] voluntary service authenticates consumer identity at the point of purchase... After voluntarily enrolling in the free service...

It's voluntary, so, what's the problem then?

In a trial run, there was only one unenrollment: "Lady's husband was convinced this was the "Mark of the Beast", and made her un-enroll." Their solution is simple: "Must continue to educate the public on how biometric technology works to dispel the "Mark of the Beast" phobia."

I think it might be a wise idea for concerned citizens - regardless of what they think of Jack van Imp - to protest any businesses that use this. But, hey, if you want to give up your fingerprint in exchange for the proferred sign-up bonus of a free hamburger, go ahead. Just make sure that you get a super-sized meal in exchange for the tattoo.

Privacy · Sun, 12/01/2002 - 23:10 · · Importance: 1