Ingestible devices with batteries that are powered by stomach acid could eventually replace your password. Photo / Thinkstock
Ingestible devices with batteries that are powered by stomach acid could eventually replace your password. Photo / Thinkstock
PayPal is working on a new generation of embeddable, injectable and ingestible devices that could replace passwords as a means of identification.
Jonathan LeBlanc, PayPal's global head of developer evangelism, claims these devices could include brain implants, wafer-thin silicon chips that can be embedded into the skin, and ingestible deviceswith batteries that are powered by stomach acid.
These devices would allow "natural body identification", by monitoring internal body functions like heartbeat, glucose levels and vein recognition, LeBlanc told the Wall Street Journal. Over time they would come to replace passwords and even more advanced methods of identification, like fingerprint scanning and location verification, which he says are not always reliable.
"As long as passwords remain the standard methods for identifying your users on the web, people will still continue to use 'letmein' or 'password123' for their secure login, and will continue to be shocked when their accounts become compromised," LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc said PayPal was already working with some partners on developing vein recognition technologies and heartbeat recognition bands, and was also working with developers on prototypes of futuristic ID verification techniques.
He said that, by talking about new biometric verification technologies, PayPal was not necessarily signalling that it was thinking about adopting them.
Rather, it hoped to position itself as a "thought leader".
"I can't speculate as to what PayPal will do in the future, but we're looking at new techniques - we do have fingerprint scanning that is being worked on right now - so we're definitely looking at the identity field," he said.
PayPal said it had no immediate plans to develop injectable or edible verification systems, but that passwords as we know them would evolve, and the company aimed to be at the forefront of those developments.
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