Monday, February 13, 2006 ยท Last updated 10:16 a.m. PT
Finger scans replace cash at Gonzaga
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPOKANE, Wash. -- About 400 students at Gonzaga University are
among the first in the nation to use finger scans to pay for meals
and other expenses in the campus area.
Sodexho Inc., the company that runs food service operations at
Gonzaga, has launched pilot programs at the Spokane school and the
University of North Texas to see if "biometric finger scans" are
workable.
Spokeswoman Sarah Cody said Sodexho will see how well they work
before deciding whether to use the technology at some of the 900
other campuses the company serves.
Scott McCoy of Fair Oaks, Calif., uses a finger swipe to pay for
things like pancakes at Arny's, a Gonzaga area diner.
"It made my parents more comfortable giving me money, because they
know what I spend it on," McCoy said.
The program, known as iMye, operates like a gift or debit card.
Students or their families deposit money into an account that can
be managed online. At campus cafeterias and coffee shops, students
use their fingers like cards a scanner reads the print and performs
the transaction.
The program doesn't use fingerprints or maintain a database of
them. Students have their fingerprints scanned, but the program
uses algorithms to create an identification based on a series of
numbers. No images of the fingerprint are kept, the company
said.
Vijay K. Sharma, vice president of sales and business development
for iMye, said Friday that the finger scans are more secure than
cash or credit cards.
"If my mother were asking me that question (about security), I'd
say, 'Mom, signing your name to a receipt for a credit card and
handing it over the counter to somebody you don't know compromises
your security much more,'" he said.
Sharma said the system gives parents more knowledge about their
children's spending, and can't be used to buy alcohol.
Nick Perrault, president of the GU student body and an intern
working to promote the program, said the fingerprint issue has
caused some concern among students. But that generally passes, he
said.
"There's kind of a cool factor," Perrault said. "Just being able to
put down your finger and not whip out a card."
