Instead of entering a password or credit card number every time you want to purchase something online, soon you might just be able to take a selfie and have done with it.

Retail giant Amazon.com, Inc., has just filed a patent application for a new “pay-by-selfie” technology that would allow consumers to do exactly that. Having already patented one-click purchases, Amazon has decided that’s not enough, and would like shoppers – mobile using ones, we assume – to be able to buy items simply by snapping a quick selfie, instead of entering their password every time. Re/Code says the application is related to another patent Amazon already holds, regarding technology that lets devices authenticate users via video or photos.

Amazon’s thinking is that paying by selfie will be better for shoppers than using passwords, which can be forgotten or stolen, and can create ‘tension’ between friends and colleagues.

“The entry of these passwords… can require the user to turn away from friends or co-workers when entering a password, which can be awkward or embarrassing in many situations,” it says in the patent application.

To avoid this ‘rudeness’ many people prefer to save their password directly in their browser so they don’t have to re-type it every time they want to purchase something. But that’s dangerous, because if someone gets hold of their device, they can easily start buying items.

This is where the pay-by-selfie concept comes in. The idea is that the person’s device will prompt the user to perform certain actions or gestures while posing for the snap, such as smiling, blinking, tilting their head. The idea here is to prevent someone else from using a photograph of the device’s genuine owner. Of course, that wouldn’t prevent whoever steals your phone from decapitating you in order to start purchasing items on your account, but hopefully most thieves will give up instead of going to such extreme lengths :)

“We may be advanced when it comes to technology, but we are still in the dark ages when it comes to security,” said Jeff Kagan, an independent industry analyst, to Computerworld. “I have expected to see these kinds of new ideas over and over again over the last several years, but we have seen little or nothing.”

Besides the issue of someone cutting off your head, Kagan also said there were questions regarding how the technology would work if someone was to alter their appearance, by wearing new glasses or changing their hair style.

“I often look different from day to day and I imagine many of us do,” he said. “It’s tough staying one step ahead of the bad guys. We need to see a regular inflow of ideas. Some will work and others will not, but we need to keep shaking things up.”

Photo Credit: Revan Jinn. via Compfight cc