Fidelity and Charles Schwab now allow traders to use “voice prints” to authorize stock transactions. But there’s more to the story, argues long-time Slashdot reader maiden_taiwan:
Fidelity Investments is touting its new security feature, MyVoice, which allows a customer to access his/her financial accounts by telephone without a password. “When you call Fidelity, you’ll no longer have to enter PINs or passwords because Fidelity MyVoice helps you interact with us securely and more conveniently. Through natural conversation, MyVoice will detect and verify your voiceprint in the first few moments of the call… Fidelity MyVoice performs even if you have a cold, allergies, or a sore throat.”

Based on my own experience, Fidelity now enables MyVoice automatically for its customers who call in for other reasons. Apparently, their conversation with Fidelity customer service provides enough data for MyVoice to recognize them. (Customers are informed afterward that MyVoice has been enabled, and they can opt out, although they aren’t told that opting out is possible.)

It’s not clear whether Fidelity is creating voice profiles of their customers without asking first. (Fidelity’s site says only that their representatives will “offer” to enroll you the next time you call.) But the original submission ends with two more questions. “In an era where Apple’s face recognition is easily defeated by family members, is voice recognition any more secure?”
And “Is a ‘voiceprint’ even possible?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Should Brokers Use ‘Voice Prints’ For Stock Transactions?