Got absolutely no problem with the tech. Problem I have is having no idea who is behind the machine and what happens with the data. Scans might be stored on a server that gets hacked - or a pissed off employee grabs a copy before they leave. At least banks have operated ATMs for years and have developed security systems and policies etc - and even they stuff up on occasion. I have no idea who ABA is - could be just one guy operating out of his garage for all know - actually it probably is.
The head of Robocoin calls himself a Libertarian, FWIW or not. I recall that he claims that he decided on using the palm scan because it is not widely used like finger prints, but still lets the operator know an actual human is present. It is more anonymous. Should the palm scan data get distributed, what use are they going to be to anyone? No other organisation has my palm vein pattern. I doubt, the biometric data is that useful for medical research purposes. It is reasonably benign information. The palm scan is the part I would least be worried about, yet it gets the lion's share of focus. The machine requires govt issued ID for example and takes a photo. Another Bitcoin "ATM" has a finger print scanner but that gets little focus. People are used to the finger print concept, which probably helps. Governments tend to rely on photo ID and finger prints as biometrics. These biometrics are much more trackable via camera recognition and actual finger prints "left at the scene."
The spreads on the one in Melbourne Emporium made me walk away - I was quite happy to use the one in Germany for the novelty of paying for dinner in BTC (when I could have just paid cash). Forget what the actual spread was. Would hate to think what the rent for the location is, and it's tucked away in a low traffic area.
The ATM operators should be selling at cost price to get people in. These people from ABA paid metric shit load of money for a polished turd and rent. Eftpos isn't charged on a percentage basis for transaction its just like a $0.3 fee right? connect up an efptos terminal to a Lamassu machine with a secure housing a boom you mitigate the suspicious activity risk because the transactions are recorded from bank accounts and there is no need to store peoples data that will eventually be taken by hackers and sold to scammers. Or introduce reasonable limits to cash transactions, $1k? that you don't need to provide ID
This is what I was talking about before, but sounds like another failure in execution Diamond Circle Launches First Cashless Bitcoin ATM
