MasterCard to Accept Fingerprint or Selfie as Payment Confirmation

Eight months ago we started discussing a new system the credit card company MasterCard were looking to trial. Now it would seem that the system is going live with MasterCard confirming the new system will be used in the future.

The new system in question is a way to do away with the age-old hassle of passwords, saving you from remembering that 8-16 digit and character password that you have to create every time you sign up for a new site or service. The new service will be rolled out in the UK, the U.S, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

When you make a payment, if there may be something up with the payment, something unusual or maybe it’s a little more than you normally spend, you could be asked by your phone to provide either a scan of your fingerprint or a selfie. Now I know what people are thinking? Well if it’s a selfie I can just hold up my friends photo and get them to pay for me. Sorry but they’ve thought about this and if you are taking a selfie for your ID, you have to blink into the camera to prove that you are a real person.

While no security measures are perfect, forcing someone to try copy your face or your fingerprint is a little harder than guessing your mothers maiden name or your favourite pets name.

If you thought that was weird, wait until companies start reading the veins in your fingers before letting you withdraw money from an ATM.