Amazon One’s palm imaging biometric technology will be used for age verification for alcohol sales at Aramark venues at Coors Field in Denver to quicken the process of purchasing beer and other drinks, the companies said Monday.
The convenience of the palm scanner will reduce the time it takes to purchase alcohol and improve the experience for baseball fans at Coors Field, said Alison Birdwell, president and CEO of Aramark Sports + Entertainment, a provider of food and beverage, retail and facility service programs in sports venues across North America.
Bartenders will see a 21+ message and a “selfie” photo of the customer on the Amazon One device when an enrolled consumer over the age of 21 hover a palm above the device. The device also can be used for automated payment. Amazon stores the biometric data in the cloud, the Seattle-based technology and e-commerce delivery company said.
Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon One technology also is in pilot testing in convenience stores in Minot, North Dakota and Energy Mart stores in Hendersonville, North Carolina and at Panera Bread restaurants in St. Louis, though not for age verification.
Coors Field is the first location to use Amazon One technology for age verification, the retail tech company said. Just a few days before the companies made the announcement, the Federal Trade Commission issued a news release warning that use of consumes’ biometric information raises consumer privacy and data security concerns.
Biometric information is data that depicts physical, biological or behavioral characteristics of a person’s body for identification. It includes facial recognition and fingerprint technologies to identify individuals and obtain information about their age, gender and race, which can lead to discriminatory practices, the FTC said.
“Large databases of biometric information could also be attractive targets for malicious actors who could misuse the information,” the FTC said.
Some facial recognition technology might be erroneous, the commission said. The FTC has brought enforcement actions against photo app maker Everalbum and Facebook for allegedly misrepresenting the way they intended to use the facial recognition technolog, the government agency said.
Amazon said it chose to use palm recognition because it doesn’t show a person’s identity as does a face image; therefore, it considers palm recognition to be more private, but the age verification program at Coors Field requires a photo be matched with the customer.
To use the age verification feature, consumers need to be enrolled in Amazon One and upload a photo of their government-issued ID and a selfie photo at one.amazon.com, Amazon said. At Coors Field, Amazon One enrollment kiosks are available at the SandLot Brewery and Silver Bullet Bar, the companies said.
Amazon said it doesn’t store government-issued IDs, but transmits images of the IDs to a third-party provider certified in identity verification to verify the ID, cross reference the consumer’s photo and denote the Amazon One account as age verified.
Companies trying the new biometric system said it will make the process more convenient for consumers and shorten the amount of time required to purchase drinks or other merchandise.
“At Coors Field, we have always prided ourselves in putting customer experience first. As the first sports stadium to enable cutting-edge palm recognition technology like Amazon One for age verification, we are enabling a friction-free experience for Colorado Rockies fans so they can grab a drink and get back to the game faster,” said John McKay, senior director of foodservice operations and development for the Colorado Rockies.
Amazon said the age verification option will be rolled out to other locations in the future.
Amazon One is available at over 100 Whole Foods Market stores, which are owned by Amazon Corp. as well as in select Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores, Amazon said. It is also in test at select Panera Bread restaurants, convenience stores, sports stadiums, entertainment venues and travel retailers at several U.S. airports.