Imagine the day that saying ‘cheque please’ into your mobile phone could authorize a purchase transaction of products procured on the web. VoicePay enables a very close reality. The technology, developed by VoiceVault.com, protects against impersonation fraud by employing complex voice recognition analysis to build up a profile of an individual’s larynx. It is therefore considered a rather secure method of authorizing payments, as, although it might be relatively easy to imitate someone’s accent, mimicking the shape and size of their vocal tract is a more steadfast challenge – even for the best accent hacks among us.

Currently, the major utility limiting factor involved in the service is that only products registered with VoicePay can be purchased using it. In order to buy a product the customer will either have to enter a 9-digit VoicePay code that identifies the product, or click on a VoicePay icon while shopping for products virtually on his or her mobile phone. Either action will activate the VoicePay service, which will call the customer and ask them to repeat a set of randomly generated numbers. If the larynx is a match – the customer need only say “yes” to authorize the purchase.

Of course, in classic network effect fashion, the more buyers who use the service, the more sellers who will sign up to sell thru it, and vice versa. That said, these initial offerings are likely only a whisper of what we can expect to hear from VoicePay in the future – according to a recent economist article, the company is already in talks with several banks and credit card companies who could help encourage growth in the technology’s adoption.