Thursday
Want to charge it? Talk to your credit card
Thieves who steal a new kind of credit card for an online shopping spree are likely to be disappointed.
That's because a California company has designed a card with an unusual security feature: It works only when it recognizes the voice of its rightful owner.
Enclosed in the card is a tiny microphone, a loudspeaker and a voice-recognition chip. To use the card, its owner must speak a password, which the chip compares with a sample recorded on the card. If the voices match, the card emits a set of beeps that authorize the transaction over the telephone or through a microphone on the shopper's computer. If the voiceprints don't agree, the card will not beep.
Designed by Beepcard, a company in Santa Monica, Calif., the device is still in prototype form. But one day it may be used to verify ownership over the telephone or the Internet, reducing the cost of fraud for consumers and merchants.
"This card makes it possible to turn a high-risk transaction over the phone or computer into a low-risk one," more..
That's because a California company has designed a card with an unusual security feature: It works only when it recognizes the voice of its rightful owner.
Enclosed in the card is a tiny microphone, a loudspeaker and a voice-recognition chip. To use the card, its owner must speak a password, which the chip compares with a sample recorded on the card. If the voices match, the card emits a set of beeps that authorize the transaction over the telephone or through a microphone on the shopper's computer. If the voiceprints don't agree, the card will not beep.
Designed by Beepcard, a company in Santa Monica, Calif., the device is still in prototype form. But one day it may be used to verify ownership over the telephone or the Internet, reducing the cost of fraud for consumers and merchants.
"This card makes it possible to turn a high-risk transaction over the phone or computer into a low-risk one," more..
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