Amazon is bringing its Palm-based payment to all Whole Foods Market stores

In the near future, you won’t have much trouble paying with your palm at the grocery store. Amazon now says it’s bringing its One Palm Recognition technology to all Whole Foods Market stores in the US by the end of the year. As before, you can swipe your palm over the reader to pay for your purchases or access your Prime benefits. If you’ve already signed up online, you won’t need to pull out your phone or wallet.

Amazon One is already available at more than 200 stores in states like California, New York and Texas. By expansion it will reach more than 500 stores. The technology is also available at some third-party locations. You can buy beer at Colorado Rockies Stadium, or grab a snack at Panera Cafe.

The palm recognition system is seen as an advantage compared to tap-to-pay and other contactless systems that still require some sort of physical item, including Amazon’s computer vision-based Just Walk Out Technology is also included. It is also potentially helpful for businesses. This ensures that those purchasing alcohol are of legal age, and the in depth nature of the scan (which looks at both the palm and the veins) creates a unique vector “signature” that cannot possibly be copied.

However, this approach has its critics. Activists have called for the removal of the Amazon Forest from music venues and other venues over privacy and human rights concerns. While Amazon boasts secure cloud storage for palm signatures as well as anti-tamper protection, opponents worry that governments could use the data to track protesters and marginalized people. Detractors are also concerned that hackers could still take the data and misuse it.

The company is already facing legal trouble regarding its functioning. A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges that Amazon broke New York City law by failing to clearly inform Go store shoppers that it was collecting biometric data, including palms. Amazon says that One users are explicitly consenting to the data collection, but it is not clear whether this is enough to respect the law.