Slashdot reader quonset writes:
In an effort to extra personalize a buyer’s expertise, the U.S. restaurant chain Panera Bread is rolling out palm-scanning expertise which can hyperlink the palm print with the client’s loyalty program. Based on Panera Bread CEO Niren Chaudhary, the transfer will enable a “frictionless, customized, and handy” evolution of Panera’s loyalty program, which boasts 52 million members. The declare is this may enable the corporate to supply menu selections based mostly on a buyer’s order historical past, enable workers to personally greet the client, and supply additional options.
Privateness advocates should not so certain. From the story:
Panera says the expertise will securely retailer its clients’ biometric information. Nevertheless, digital rights activists fear that data could possibly be tapped by federal companies or accessed by hackers.
“Federal companies like Customs and Border Safety have skilled devastating hacks the place massive databases of biometric data have been stolen,” Combat for the Future instructed CBS MoneyWatch in an e-mail. “Do we actually anticipate Amazon, or Panera, to have higher cybersecurity practices?”
The scanners are already put in at areas in St. Louis, Panera introduced Wednesday, and scanners will “develop to extra areas within the coming months.” (Panera has 2,113 areas in 48 states.) “After a easy scan of the palm, Panera associates will have the ability to greet friends by identify, talk their accessible rewards, reorder their favourite menu objects, or take one other order of their selection,” the announcement gushes, “extending the visitor expertise into a real and significant relationship.
“When they’re performed ordering, friends can merely scan their palm once more to pay.”
