WASHINGTON: Three US Senators, including Democrats Amy Klobuchar who led the antitrust panel of the Senate Justice Committee, wrote a letter to Amazon.com Inc.
to express concern about the Palm Print recognition system, Klobuchar office said Friday.
Amazon began launching biometric technology in all food stores around Seattle in April, let buyers pay for goods with scanning their palms.
The system, called Amazon One, allows customers to link credit cards to their Palm Print.
Klobuchar, who joined Senator Bill Cassidy, a republican, and Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, expressed concern in the letter Thursday about privacy and competition related to Amazon.
“Our concerns about the privacy of users is enhanced by evidence that Amazon shares sound data with third-party contractors and allegations that Amazon has violated the biometric privacy law,” wrote parliamentarians in the letter.
“We are also worried that Amazon can use data from Amazon One, including data from third-party customers who can buy and use the Amazon One device, to further increase competitiveness and reduce competition in various markets,” he wrote.
Parliamentarians asked Amazon about plans to expand Amazon One, and to whom they have sold or licensed technology.
They also asked how many people signed up for it, how the data was used and if it was paired with a face recognition system.
Amazon rejected the comment but pointed to a blog post on April 21, which said that it was in “active discussion with some potential customers.” Furthermore, said that Amazon someone was designed for “very safe.” “The Amazon One device is protected by several security controls, and the palm images are never stored on the Amazon One device.
Instead, the image is encrypted and sent to a very safe area we made specifically for Amazon One,” The word post blog.