Facial Recognition Payment or FRP, is essentially making a payment with face recognition technology. FRP is currently widely implemented in China, with the use of a WeChat e-wallet or Alipay account, you can link your existing account to stores available with this service and check out the payment process with scanning your face. There is also news on this technology being implemented in a store in LA, USA and also in Denmark. FRP is definitely on the rise of payment technology, but how does it actually work?
According to Alipay’s FRP (Facial Recognition Payment),
1. The user taps Pay with Face Recognition on the screen of the device.
2. The device scans the face and recognizes the user.
3. If you are a first time user, you will need to key in relevant data like phone number and associated payment accounts used in payment. But if you are a returning user, all you need to do is verify your payment account and confirm payment.
4. Your payment is complete! With relevant information like payment amount and account associated with payment will be shown on the device.
Even though this cut-edge technology is efficient in easing the payment process and also succeeding in lessening physical contact, especially amidst Covid-19 pandemic, many users are concerned with the exposure of data and privacy invasion as to the lack of security regarding the information shared during payment. Below are some key concerns according to research:
1. No consent was questioned for.
Users were asked to scan their face immediately after tapping the ‘make payment’ button but not whether if they want to proceed with the process at first.
2. Users are not able to understand how exactly is the process of facial recognition carried out.
A genuine concern of users is that anyone with a user’s phone number could buy something and associate their own face with the account linked to that specific phone number.
3. An easy breach of data and privacy.
Your data is essentially exposed to the public and it is not explained that facial recognition is secure enough to protect user data.
As for now, FRPs are still unfamiliar and foreign to the public’s eye. It is indeed a fairly new technology and with the concern of user data protection and privacy, FRPs indeed still have a long way to go. Unless someone comes up with a better plan in protecting users in the process as well as enhancing the payment process, FRPs may be the biggest breakthrough in technology yet.