When a Palm Reader Knows More Than Your Life Line
By NATASHA SINGER November 10, 2012
"PLEASE put your hand on the scanner," a receptionist at a doctor's office at New York University Langone Medical Center said to me recently, pointing to a small plastic device on the counter between us. "I need to take a palm scan for your file."
I balked.
As a reporter who has been covering the growing business of data collection, I know the potential drawbacks - like customer profiling
- of giving out my personal details. But the idea of submitting to an infrared scan at a medical center that would take a copy of the unique vein patterns in my palm seemed fraught.
The receptionist said it was for my own good. The medical center, she said, had recently instituted a biometric patient identification system to protect against identity theft.
I reluctantly stuck my hand on the machine. If I demurred, I thought, perhaps I'd be denied medical care.
Next, the receptionist said she needed to take my photo. After the palm scan, that seemed like data-collection overkill. Then an office manager appeared and explained that the scans and pictures were optional. Alas, my palm was already in the system.
No longer the province of security services and science-fiction films, biometric technology is on the march. Facebook uses facial-recognition software so its members can automatically put name tags on friends when they upload their photos. Apple uses voice recognition to power Siri. Some theme parks take digital fingerprints to help recognize season pass holders. Now some hospitals and school districts are using palm vein pattern recognition to identify and efficiently manage their patients or students - in effect, turning your palm into an E-ZPass.
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Many years ago, I responded to a request from, IIRC, the ACLU, which asked for suggestions on how best to illustrate the dangers of allowing profit-making corporations to assemble commercial databases which would, sooner or later, contain every fact of our lives.
I suggested, and they used, the metaphor of a man ordering a pizza over the phone, only to be told that he may only order vegetarian items because meats would contribute to his cholesterol level, and then told that he would have to bring cash because his credit card was maxed out. I also suggested that the metaphorical pizza parlor try to upsell a health-club membership due to the customer's latest weight measurement, but they didn't use that part.
Palm scanners have little to do with /your/ health, and everything to do with the Medical Industry's /Financial/ heatlh: they want to track your every move, including the movement of your bank account, and they want to do it in real time so that their computers can choose the most profitable combination of practitioner, service level, and prescription while you're still standing in line without a clue.
Bill Horne Moderator