The next time you shop at Amazon, you might have to take a selfie as proof of payment. The online retail store has just filed a patent for its Pay-By-Selfie scheme to improve its online shopping security for the millions of people transacting on the site.
Amazon already has secure measure in place with its convenient one-click purchase process. However, it would like its shoppers to avoid certain situations when they're purchasing items with their friends or co-workers around on gadgets that aren't exactly user-friendly.
"The small touchscreen or keyboard elements can be difficult to accurately select using a relatively large human finger, and can require the user to turn away from friends or co-workers when entering a password, which can be awkward or embarrassing in many situations," the company notes in its patent application. In improving its security, Amazon intends to make online shopping more fun for its patrons as the camera takes their image.
USA Today reports that Amazon will have a facial recognition technology in place once the Pay-By-Selfie patent is approved. The company named this Alexa, the digital assistant and at the moment, the technology is already part of Amazon Echo's features, sans the camera.
When shoppers are ready to check out of the site, they will have to look straight at Alexa's lens for verification of credit card payments first. Then they will have to take another photo while doing "certain actions, motions, or gestures, such as to smile, blink, or tilt his or her head," NBC News reports.
Amazon believes the Pay-By-Selfie scheme is better than using passwords, which can be vulnerable to hacking. There's also a tendency for some users to forget passwords when it's too long or complicated. The new system might also replace CAPTCHA confirmation, which only confuses some shoppers and delays the shopping process. Alexa and the Pay-By-Selfie process will also be featured in Amazon's phone and tablet apps.
