The Amazon empire is trying to do away with cash by launching Amazon One, a new "identity service" that allows Amazon customers to pay for overpriced, cheap-quality Amazon products using just the palm of the hand.
Amazon is encouraging its customers to "link" their palms to their Amazon accounts right away so they can walk out of a Whole Foods Market or Amazon Fresh grocery store by swiping their hands rather than their chipped credit or debit cards.
"Ditch your wallet and breeze through checkouts and entry gates with ease," the company says its in marketing materials for Amazon One, called "Your palm, your choice."
"Just hover your palm over an Amazon One device and get going."
(Related: Amazon Fresh stores are already equipped with so-called "Just Walk Out" technology that allows for cashless, register-less purchases simply by walking out of the store.)
Unless someone steals your hand, there's no way to cheat Amazon One
Just like fingerprints, all palms are unique. They are "a unique part of you," to quote Amazon, and they do not "go anywhere you don't and can't be used by anyone but you" – unless, of course, someone steals your arm or hand.
"Each time you use Amazon One, you'll need to intentionally scan your palm for it to work – you get to decide exactly when and where to be recognized," the company says.
In the age of post-COVID, many people are still concerned about "contactless" payment, meaning no need to touch anything. Amazon One has that covered with its palm payment system, which allows customers to experience "truly contactless interaction" with Amazon stores.
"Our service means that after signing up, you won't have to touch anything to use it," the company boasts.
Actor Russell Brand compares Amazon One to biblical Mark of the Beast
Amazon insists that cashless palm payments are the future, allowing customers to "move seamlessly" through their days – but is there something more ominous to it? Actor Russell Brand thinks so.
Brand released a video called "It's Happening" – watch below – that highlights the "nefarious nature of Big Tech," warning that people will have to say "bye, bye freedom" in order to participate in the new global tech paradigm.
Something that Amazon is not telling its customers about Amazon One is the fact that in order for cashless palm payments to work, customers are required to hand over private biometric data that the company will use for who knows what later on down the road.
Consumers, warns Brand, have been "drugged with convenience," the word convenience appearing multiple times in Amazon One's marketing materials. The entire "concept of liberty," he adds, is at stake.
"It's not like it says literally in the Bible that the Mark of the Beast will be rendered in the palm of your hand or anything like that," Brand claims. "Don't worry; just walk face-first into Armageddon without questioning it. It's convenient having an apocalypse."
Amazon's close relationship with police state
In the past, Amazon was caught handing over sensitive customer data to law enforcement. Brand cannot help but notice that this poses serious problems for consumer privacy and safety, seeing as how Amazon has many "relationships with the police state" and government.
As we, too, have been reporting for many years now, Amazon sells all kinds of spying technology, i.e., Alexa speakers, Ring doorbells and iRobot vacuums, that are concerning in and of themselves. Add Amazon One into the mix and it becomes apparent that Amazon wants full control of the consumer experience.
"Just give all your data to Amazon and let them give that data to whoever they want," Brand said jokingly. "Just wave your hand."
There could come a time, Brand further warned, when Amazon could start tracking its customers' political beliefs in order to launch a "social credit score" system of societal control.
"You're not interested in controlling your own life, are you?" he asked sarcastically, being a comedian and all.
No buying or selling without Amazon
Amazon's monopolistic business model is another part of the equation that few are considering. As Amazon one by one puts out of business all of its competitors, it will eventually become one of the only places where people can shop. How long will it be at that point before Amazon does away with cash entirely, allowing only palm scanning?
Congress is concerned about the threat, at least on the surface. Several U.S. senators wrote a letter to Amazon a few years back addressing the "unique security risks" inherent to the company's biometric information collection and storage practices.
"Some states have informed-consent laws about biometric data, but once it's collected, information can be tracked and linked," explains Stephanie Martin, writing for Church Leaders.
When Amazon One was first introduced, tech writer James Vincent warned that it "isn't a payment technology [but] an identity technology, and one that could give Amazon more reach into your life than ever before."
Vincent added that palm scanning for shopping is "overkill," and likely for the purpose of later expansion into other areas of commerce and life such as concert and theater venues, airports, office buildings and even cross-border movement around the world.
Privacy rights in general, warns tech policy analyst Frederike Kaltheuner, are becoming "harder to establish and preserve" in the digital era because "your physical self is literally becoming a transactional tool."
Amazon is leading the world right into a cashless new world order – are you ready? Find out more at Collapse.news.
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