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Amazon Gives A Hand To Soft Totalitarianism

Pay with your palm using new Amazon One technology -- but don't think about the implications
Screen Shot 2020-10-12 at 5.01.13 PM

From Live Not By Lies:

Soft totalitarianism, as we will see in a later chapter, makes use of advanced surveillance technology not (yet) imposed by the state, but rather welcomed by consumers as aids to lifestyle convenience—and in the postpandemic environment, likely needed for public health. It is hard to get worked up over Big Brother when you have already grown accustomed to Big Data closely monitoring your private life via apps, credit cards, and smart devices, which make life so much easier and more pleasurable.

From an Amazon news release today:

We’re always looking for ways to make our customers’ lives better, and one area where we’ve spent time innovating is the customer shopping experience in stores. Today, our physical retail team is excited to introduce a new innovation called Amazon One. Amazon One is a fast, convenient, contactless way for people to use their palm to make everyday activities like paying at a store, presenting a loyalty card, entering a location like a stadium, or badging into work more effortless. The service is designed to be highly secure and uses custom-built algorithms and hardware to create a person’s unique palm signature.

They add, in a Covid-19 reference:

And it’s contactless, which we think customers will appreciate, especially in current times.

In our social credit future, this biometric system and the data attached to it will be used to keep Deplorables from going into stores and workplaces. It will be difficult for them to buy or sell if they do not conform. The  palmprint is the mark each of us will need to buy or sell — which we can do as long as the regime certifies that we are compliant, because there are no compromising data attached to our hands.

Let the reader understand.

You don’t think you need to read Live Not By Lies? Each day brings more birth pangs of the new world.

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