Biometric Voice Recognition Credit Cards

securitas writes "New Scientist's Celeste Biever reports on the latest in biometric security devices: voice recognition credit cards. The device is three times the size of a normal credit card, has a 'microphone, a loudspeaker, a battery and a voice-recognition chip' and is intended to help reduce credit card fraud. The owner speaks a password into the card and the card emits an authentication squawk. Bruce Schneier loves the concept of BeepCard's related sound authentication technology. Other articles at the Telegraph and The Register."

3x the size!?!

[ePhil_One]

Why would anybody want to carry a credit card 3x the size of their other cards?

and the merchant verification process?

[way2trivial]

how do I, the merchant, prove I 'heard' the squawk?

Convenience?

[BlueCup]

Isn't one of the goals of credit cards convenience? I mean, I could put all of my money in a pot, bury it where someone will never find it and pull from it when I needed and it would be pretty secure, but it's just too much work. This might be a good idea for the tin foil hat crew but I've got a feeling most of us will be sticking with our small, compact, easy to slide into wallet cards.

What if your sick?

[Grant29]

What if you have a sore throat and try to go to the drug store for some medicine? If your voice is scratchy, will you be denied your medicine because your voice doesn't match?

--
Fresh Deals [retailretreat.com]

Re:Convenience?

[Kenja]

"Isn't one of the goals of credit cards convenience?"

The main goal is to get people to spend money they dont have so that they can pay off the interest for the rest of their life.

Re:More passwords?

[Frizzle Fry]

The benefit of biometrics should be that people don't have to remember more password. The fact that people can't (or don't want to) remember passwords is a good reason to be working on technologies where you can be identified by your voice or fingerprint rather than a string of characters.

Sheesh, there's got to be more to this

[Anonymous Coward]

Thieves will be unable to use the card because even if they knew the password they would have to be able to copy the owner's voice with a high degree of accuracy.

It's a good thing that mankind has never developed technology able to record voices to a high degree of accuracy.

Mary had a little lamb, it's fleece was white as snow. And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go. Ha, Ha, Ha.

Potential problems...

[cagle_.25]

...seem fairly obvious. First, if one of these devices is at a public terminal, it wouldn't be hard at all to get a .wav record of the transaction; then, I have your password FOR LIFE!

Second, if someone's voice is drastically altered, (s)he would have to find a way to prove identity outside of the voice recognition system.

Third, any technology that might let me verify someone's voiceprint could also be used to generate a false voiceprint. A simple tape recording of you talking could be enough to forge your voice electronically. (Hmmm... cool plot possibilities for a Tom Clancey thriller)

Fourth, my (hypothetical) twin, who probably has an almost-identical voiceprint, is not necessarily to be trusted.

Re:What if...

[cheesedog]

The point is, that in order to use the card, you have to have it in your hand. You can't steal my credit card simply by writing down the magic numbers (just like RSA's SecurID).

What does adding voice input from the card's owner do? Not a whole lot, except that now, instead of only needing to physically have the card in your hand, you also have to physically sound like the owner (or have a good recording of the owner speaking his password).

Is this beatable? Absolutely. But the thing to remember is that it is significantly less beatable than the current system. And since there is no such thing as unbreakable authentication, that's about the best you can ask for. If this system works, it eliminates most fraud, because most credit card theft is performed by complete strangers, i.e., people that don't have access to recording my voice or physically swiping my card.

Re:More passwords?

[Frizzle Fry]

I know. I was saying more generally that advances in this area are useful as they move us towards a future where biometrics get good enough that people don't need passwords.

Also, I would imagine that the point of password for a system like this is mainly just to make it easier on the system identifying your voice, since it will only have to be able to identify your voice for one given phrase. This means that password in a system like this don't have to be nearly so cryptic and hard to remember as traditional password to be equally secure. You should now be able to safely have a passord like "bosco" rather than "B0sZc110~9*".

Re:Convenience?

[shyster]

Isn't one of the goals of credit cards convenience? I mean, I could put all of my money in a pot, bury it where someone will never find it and pull from it when I needed and it would be pretty secure, but it's just too much work.

Is that why credit card companies continously ignore the painfully obvious means of ID the rest of the USA depends on: the driver's license (or military/state ID card)?

If you write (or cash) a check, they check ID. Want some beer or smokes? Where's your ID? Need a passport? You need an ID. Got arrested? Better have some ID. Renting a car? Let me copy that ID. New job? Need an ID and Social Security card.

Want a credit card? Just fill out this pre-approved application with your name and SS#, and we'll send you one. Oh, and when you get it, sign the back so some 16 year old high school dropout can "verify" it's you when you use it...if they even bother to check, that is.

And then, when "identity theft" (It's not identity theft. It's credit card companies getting conned because they're stupid.) becomes a problem, they spend millions of dollars enacting inane schemes such as this to verify identity. Bloody brilliant, I tell you.

Won't work for me and those who can't talk...

[antdude]

I have a speech impediment and this technology wouldn't work for me very well. :(