Thread: Fitness club's fingerprint entry system pumps up debate over biometric identity

Lost your gym membership card? No problem. A finger is all it takes to enter 24 Hour Fitness.
The athletic-club giant recently introduced a cardless check-in system in Colorado that uses fingerprint scans to identify members.
The new procedure will offer cost savings, environmental benefits and enhanced security, 24 Hour Fitness says.
It also adds to a debate on the use of biometric-identification techniques.
Critics fear the systems that use fingerprints, irises, voices and facial recognition could be susceptible to hacking and represent a Big Brother-like intrusion on personal privacy.
A blue-ribbon panel of the National Research Council in a recent report said biometric-identification techniques are "inherently fallible."
"While some biometric systems can be effective for specific tasks, they are not nearly as infallible as their depiction in popular culture might suggest," said panel chairman Joseph Pato, a security researcher at Hewlett-Packard's HP Laboratories.
Proponents, including 24 Hour Fitness, say their procedures have built-in safeguards to protect customers' information.
The health club said that members' full fingerprints are not electronically stored. Instead, the system charts the distance between certain ridges of a fingerprint and converts the information into a binary code that is encrypted.
When members enter a club, they place their finger on an electronic scanner, then enter a unique 10-digit code on a keypad. The scan and the number, together, verify identity.
The biometric system is voluntary. Customers choosing not to use it can present a driver's license or other form of ID. Club staffers then will check the names on membership rolls.
Reaction to the cardless program "has been really favorable," said Dan Benning, president of 24 Hour Fitness' northern division, which includes Colorado.
"We're seeing about 97 percent acceptance," he said. "People love the convenience of not having to bring a membership card or ID into the club."
Benning said the primary benefits from the club's standpoint are cost and environmental advantages from not issuing about 1 million plastic cards a year. It also expects to reduce fraudulent use of the gyms by nonmembers.
The San Ramon, Calif.-based company would not disclose how much money it expects to save. Before implementing the new system, it charged members $15 to replace lost cards.
The club began introducing the scanners to its 21 metro-Denver facilities earlier this month. Most of the chain's 420 outlets nationwide began using it several months ago.
Nick Tonhsai of Aurora, a 24 Hour Fitness member, said he hasn't yet signed up for the fingerprint scan and is not convinced that it's necessary as a security measure.
"It's a fitness center; it's not Fort Knox," he said. "If it was being used for some real secure facility, maybe I would be OK with that, but with a gym? Come on, it's just a gym."
Tonhsai said he has concerns about having his fingerprints used for identification at a business.
Those concerns are shared by the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
"With fingerprinting systems, you really don't know what's going to be done with the data and how secure the database is," said Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy.
Digit instead of debit
Grand Junction-based Feather Petroleum, operator of Stop 'n Save convenience stores, in 2006 began using fingerprint scanners that allowed customers to pay for purchases from their checking accounts without writing checks — the equivalent of swiping a debit card.
But Feather discontinued the program in 2008 for lack of customer interest and because the vendor, Pay By Touch, went out of business.
Some schools in the Denver and St. Vrain Valley districts use fingerprint scanners to deduct money from student accounts for school meals.
Banks were once thought to be good candidates for biometric identification, but not many have adopted the technology.
"We really haven't seen it used much," said Jennifer Waller, senior vice president of the Colorado Bankers Association. "People increasingly are moving toward online banking, so maybe it's not as good a fit for this industry."


Read more: Fitness club's fingerprint entry system pumps up debate over biometric identity - The Denver Post Fitness club's fingerprint entry system pumps up debate over biometric identity - The Denver Post

Originally Posted by IronAddict

Never really enjoyed working out at these cookie cutter gym's.

not even an option anymore. every time I go with one of my friends to their gym (24 hr Fitness, LV Athletic Club, etc.) I get all sorts of static from the staff about "training" people. fuck all those places for the most part