Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

On Friday, U.S. Senators Dr. Bill Cassidy, (R-La.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) requested information about Amazon’s data collection practices involving biometrics in a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. The senators expressed concerns about the company’s use of data gathered by Amazon One, the company’s palm-print recognition and payment system.

The letter follows reports of Amazon offering credits to consumers to share their biometric data with Amazon One. Amazon has also announced that it is planning to expand the program, including potentially selling Amazon One technology to third-party stores.

“Amazon’s expansion of biometric data collection through Amazon One raises serious questions about Amazon’s plans for this data and its respect for user privacy, including about how Amazon may use the data for advertising and tracking purposes,” the senators wrote.

“Amazon One users may experience harms if their data is not kept secure. In contrast with biometric systems like Apple’s Face ID and Touch ID or Samsung Pass, which store biometric information on a user’s device, Amazon One reportedly uploads biometric information to the cloud, raising unique security risks… Data security is particularly important when it comes to immutable customer data, like palm prints,” the senators continued.

Read the full letter online at www.cassidy.senate.gov/download/amazon-biometrics-letter.