“PopID, a consumer authentication service, and Visa (NYSE: V ), the world’s leader in digital payments, announced a partnership to collaborate on launching facial verification payment acceptance in the Middle East region.  The goal of the partnership is to provide cardholders with new safe, secure, and innovative ways to pay.”

“Ant Group Co., which revolutionized China’s payments industry , is learning how hard it is to separate people from their mobile phones. Three years ago, the financial-technology giant controlled by billionaire Jack Ma embarked on an ambitious and costly effort to install facial-recognition devices at retailers that would allow people to make payments by smiling at a screen without having to use their phones.”

“With California imposing strict restrictions to stem the spread of COVID-19, a number of restaurant and retail store owners in the city of Pasadena have quietly established the nation’s first dense “face-pay” network. These small business owners have embraced an advanced facial recognition technology that lets their customers make secure, hands-free purchases using only their faces.”

“Nets, a European digital payments firm, is launching a trial of facial recognition for payments for up to 1,000 office workers in Copenhagen.  The program will allow up to 1,000 people working at 25 companies at an office community in Vibenshushet to link their face to an employee ID card and pay for their lunch at the Kokkenes Kokkens cafeteria.”

“China has among the fastest rates of adoptions when it comes to non-cash payments. According to a 2018 McKinsey report, 40 per cent of in-person spending in China was through mobile digital wallets. The report said that China alone will generate half a trillion dollars in net new annual payment revenue by 2022. However, the technology raises concerns over privacy, security and surveillance – and not everyone is on board with it. Brenda McPhail, director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association specializing in privacy and security, points to the potential for breaches and hacks, and mentions there is no infrastructure in place to protect people whose biometric data is stolen.”

“The new feature was created to address complaints that facial recognition machines make people look ugly. A new poll (in Chinese) ran by news portal Sina Technology showed that more than 60% of respondents think they look uglier through the next-gen payments method than on a regular camera. This could be a real concern for beauty-obsessed people who, at a busy supermarket checkout, find their face displayed unflatteringly on a large computer screen.”

“One mistake could mean never being able to shop again. Facial recognition: Your face, your passwordThis is part of a CNET special report exploring the benefits and pitfalls of facial recognition. While that may be good news for shopkeepers, it raises concerns about potential overreach. It’s just one example of how facial recognition straddles the line between being a force for good and being a possible violation of personal privacy. Privacy advocates fear that regulations can’t keep up with the technology — found everywhere from your phone to selfie stations — leading to devastating consequences.”

“As the algorithms get more advanced — meaning they are better able to identify women and people of color, a task they have historically struggled with — legal experts and civil rights advocates are sounding the alarm on researchers’ use of photos of ordinary people. These people’s faces are being used without their consent, in order to power technology that could eventually be used to surveil them.”

“A historical shopping street in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, has become the first in China to extensively apply facial recognition in making payments. The government in Wenzhou, a city known as the country’s cradle for private entrepreneurship, has joined with Ant Financial, operator of China’s biggest online payment platform Alipay, and e-commerce giant Alibaba through an agreement signed in May 2015 to jointly develop “a smart business area.””