After a two-month pilot of using palm scans to pay for cafeteria lunches, Carroll County, Md. schools have scrapped the program, reports the Baltimore Sun.
The program was tested in ten schools to speed up transactions and give children more time to eat, but parental concerns over children’s privacy led to the demise of the program.
While privacy was stated as a main concern, Baltimore Sun blogger Steve Earley notes that biometrics is becoming more of a trend and could soon become as common as using passwords.
Earley notes biometrics is already making headways as a means of identification within the government and the banking industry. Health care is another prime sector where biometric applications can easily automate and simplify processes. Some fitness-related products incorporating biometrics are coming onto the market and could encourage adoption of the technology by consumers.
Yet, while biometrics could simplify technology use, the fact that people only have one set of biometric identifiers does make the potential for privacy-related problems an underlying factor in protecting our information.
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