Jamie Forzato, wtop.com

WASHINGTON – Do you hate trying to remember passwords for every secure website or computer program?

Well passwords could be a thing of the past as companies develop new ways to verify consumers’ identities.

About 125 million customers use PayPal to make online payments. A growing number of them are using smartphones and tablets to shop on the internet. Traditional passwords can make consumers vulnerable to hackers, spyware, and identity theft especially as many people use the same combinations for multiple online accounts.

So PayPal is considering ditching passwords all together and developing more secure alternatives to verify a person’s identity – like voice recognition and keystroke analysis.

PayPal President David Marcus tells the BBC they’re also experimenting with embedded fingerprint scanners on smartphones.

He says the company plans to roll out these new technology features by next year.

Follow @WTOP on Twitter.