Click a selfie, pay your bills

New York, July 4

Yes. You read it correctly. Paying bills need no longer be an arduous task if you do it through Mastercard.  All you need is a selfie from your smartphone, blink once at your self-portrait and your bill is paid.

That what the new mobile app that MasterCard is developing will do, CNET.com reported. The app uses facial recognition to verify your identity.

After downloading the app, you pay for things by simply looking at your phone and blinking once.

The blink prevents thieves from showing the app a picture of your face in an attempt to fool it. Alternately, the app can read your fingerprint.

The app doesn't send either your fingerprint or a picture of your face to MasterCard. Instead, it converts the image into code.

MasterCard says it's secure, but any transmitted data is potentially vulnerable. By contrast, Apple's Touch ID fingerprint verification, for example, happens entirely on your iPhone and no data is transmitted.

The new biometric methods for verifying your identity could replace passwords or PIN codes. MasterCard currently asks for a password to verify purchases with its SecureCode system.

It's not clear when the app will be available to customers. The company is reportedly also experimenting with voice recognition and even a method of verifying your identity by reading your heartbeat. — IANS