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https://www.speedpass.com/ ?

I remember some gas stations introducing some sort of way to pay w/o using a credit card (I'm assuming it's RFID).

Now, sure, someone could clone your RFID and use it to buy gas, but well, even if they buy at the cheapest gas station, I don't expect they'd get great returns. Nowhere near the value of cloning a card and buying upscale shoes.

Speedpass seems to work in Canada too, https://www.essoextra.com/SpeedpassFaqHow.page seems to have a useful faq (the speedpass.com faq is split into too many parts). It looks like your pass could be used to buy out the contents of an Esso station, but I'd expect Esso to be a bit annoyed by such abuse and to use its video cameras to demand prosecution.

I know it's cliche, but I still get stuck in line behind people who don't understand the basics of the ATM machine interface. Inserting (or swiping) the card throws them off. Grocery store POS systems, never consistent between chains, present even more hurdles. I've seen "Pay at the Pump" customers drive off because they just don't understand the instructions.

You want to give these folks RSA dongles? They don't even see the security implications of putting their entire credit line on their keychain with not even a PIN for validation.

The two problems are simple: People here won't understand it, and they won't care.

Why this works in Europe is beyond me, but I'm sure there are plenty of cliche anti-American rants to help explain it.

I assume that you know about technology since you're on /., but would you really trust your money to a chip? This was tested by Mondex in Guelph Ontario. And I guess it just wasn't ready, not for here anyways. Even though things like this and Speedpass are trying to become mainstream (with Speedpass having more luck), I personal am still a little reluctent to give up my cold hard cash.

As a side note, I just learned that the Electronic Frontier Canada is located about 3 blocks away from me...

Years ago, when speedpass first came out, I filled out an application, but declined to put my SSN on it. If I link it to a credit card, why should you have my SSN?

I just signed up (I've been meaning to for a while, anyway), and all they want is a credit card number. Sweet. No more frozen fingers at the pump!

Foo: What about security? ... And this doesn't even begin to cover eavesdropping.
Bar: From the description, this thing works just like Esso Speedpass dongles, in that, the thing needs to be within around 2 cm ( 1 inch ) for it to trigger and transmit the needed data/

However, when Mobil first introduced the Speedpass, they also had a "Car Tag" version (still mentioned in the FAQ). It was larger, and mounted on the back window near the fuel cap. All you had to do was pull up to the pump, and an antenna above the pump would do the work. That implies an active distance of 6-10 feet, with a greatly increased vulnerability to eavesdropping.

I haven't seen the antennas lately, and this page implies that they stopped deploying the car tag after the Mobil/Exxon merger -- except in New Jersey, where mandatory full service would reduce the problem of tag spoofing.

The only way anyone could eavesdrop on or steal your CC number using this system is if he has his hands in your pants.

True with the keychain dongle, not true with the Car Tag version. And even if I were willing to use a Speedpass, I'd steer clear of the new Speedpass-enabled Timex Watch! Like the song says:
Beware, beware of the handshake / That hides the snake...

Foo: What about security? ... And this doesn't even begin to cover eavesdropping.
Bar: From the description, this thing works just like Esso Speedpass dongles, in that, the thing needs to be within around 2 cm ( 1 inch ) for it to trigger and transmit the needed data/

However, when Mobil first introduced the Speedpass, they also had a "Car Tag" version (still mentioned in the FAQ). It was larger, and mounted on the back window near the fuel cap. All you had to do was pull up to the pump, and an antenna above the pump would do the work. That implies an active distance of 6-10 feet, with a greatly increased vulnerability to eavesdropping.

I haven't seen the antennas lately, and this page implies that they stopped deploying the car tag after the Mobil/Exxon merger -- except in New Jersey, where mandatory full service would reduce the problem of tag spoofing.

The only way anyone could eavesdrop on or steal your CC number using this system is if he has his hands in your pants.

True with the keychain dongle, not true with the Car Tag version. And even if I were willing to use a Speedpass, I'd steer clear of the new Speedpass-enabled Timex Watch! Like the song says:
Beware, beware of the handshake / That hides the snake...

Every time one of the prophetic things come to pass

Correction - that should read:

Every time one of the prophetic things come to Speedpass

You guys seem to be getting hung up on the money thing. The real issue here is identification.

Identity theft is a problem, as we all know. This is just another way to counter-act that.

I use an RF ID tag to buy gas now. The Mobil Speedpass is very handy. But easily stolen.

Easily stolen like your credit card, credit card number, password, ssn... etc etc.....

Instead of injecting technology into the human body, why don't we just apply the human body to technology as a means of identification?

Biometrics

Anyone remember Gattica?

I can't say where Visa are but from my limited experience working for American Express I can see where my employers are at. The nearest thing approaching micropayments is ExpressPay which is more like the Exxon/Mobil SpeedPass. The Amex system to my knowledge is considered to be in trial status, mainly around Phoenix, AZ, at this time

To my knowledge there isn't any thing else in development. But if American Express at the corporate level were to see value in micropayments and that it would prove useful as a service to its premium cardmembers (and that it would generate profit for the company and fit in with the company image), I'm sure that they'd go for it.

But as other posters have said, Paypal is quite suited for micropayments as it is, and what ever happened to using your cellphone for them micropayments?

Mark.

PS: Disclaimer: The views expressed here (if I did express any) are mine, not of my employer (American Express).

I really hope you're just trying to be funny and doing a poor job of it, but in case you're serious...

I keep waiting for a gas pump that "recognizes" my gasoline credit card device and waits for me to "fill it up."

Uh, hate to break it to you, but those have been around since the mid to late 90's, when Mobil introduced the SpeedPass. I've had one since long before I ever heard of Bluetooth. Now they are used at Exxon and Mobil stations all over the place. I think McDonald's even did testing a while back in California, IIRC, where people could pay for their drive-thru purchases via SpeedPass-- dunno if that's going to go national. When they launched it, it came in two varieties-- a small cylinder for your keyring that must be waved in front of a spot on the pump, and a transponder meant to be stuck inside your car's window that is "read" by an overhanging antenna when the car first pulls up to the pump (sort of like the E-Z Pass system some states have for toll roads). I think the stick-on transponder SpeedPass has been phased out, because I see no reference to it on the website.

Have a hard time getting a paper receipt, though. Keep getting a message saying "Your receipt is inside."

Where I live, gas pumps have been accepting credit cards right at the pump for at least 10 years, and have been printing their own receipts right at the pump as well. My SpeedPass account is even configured to assume I want a receipt when I gas up, so the pump just spits one out without asking when I'm done filling my tank.

I won't even tell you what I can do with my Macs running OS X and my Bluetooth phone, it may make your head explode. No flying cars yet, though.

I suggest you move to a state where people aren't too busy dating their relatives to embrace technological advances. By the way, the North won.

I think speedpass works using RFID, but it might be something similar. Anyway I have one (well sorta, my credit card expired and I never updated my profile) and it needs to be really damn close to the reader thing to pick up. I don't see how people think this is going to invade privacy. It'd be one thing if they could be picked up from miles away, but if it works like Speedpass that won't be the case.

Where I live this technology is already in use. There are gas pumps here in Kansas labeled with a square area and a SPEEDPASS logo.

Speedpass Site

I don't know anything about the underlying technology, but it would seem phillips and visa have been beat to the punch.

Esso Canada (gas station chain) has been using keychain-dongles for rapid payment for about a year now.

Yeah, Mobil here in the US has been doing that for over 5 years. It's called Speedpass. You can use it right at the pump, or you can use it at the register inside to pay for whatever goods you buy. Just looking at the speedpass website, it looks like its now accepted at Exxon and even some McDonalds (probably those ones that are located at gas stations) and Stop & Shop(?) stores. The keychain-dongle is what they've always used, but it looks like the web site is advertising a speedpass watch now too.

For me, a credit card at the pump works just as well, but I can see how it would be handy. If you lose it, its only good at a few places for whoever finds it (as opposed to a credit card).

I think that's how SpeedPass works. It's really a faster way to buy things, but seems incredibly unsafe. If someone swipes that thing, you're done!

That's how I pay for gas at Mobil, with their Speedpass. It's a small keychain thing that looks like a black magot:

Well, that was how I paid for gas at Mobil. I cut my Speedpass open, took out the glass cylinder, and put it inside my Nextel i90 cell phone, it fit next to the battery. The Speedpass only lasted a few months before dieing. I haven't tried it again yet...

It was cool when it worked though, I just held my cell phone up to the pump to pay for gas.

This sounds an awful lot like SpeedPass, which is at least 5 years old. Any idea what the difference is?

"No reaching for your wallet, or fumbling with change. Speedpass is accepted at over 7,700 Exxon and Mobil stations nationwide and at over 440 participating McDonald's restaurants in Chicago and Northwest Indiana"

http://www.timex.com/speedpass/

http://www.speedpass.com

...unless you get the car window mounted version:

From http://www.speedpass.com/faqs/category.jsp?categor yId=1

How long does the Speedpass Car Tag battery last?
Three to five years. When you need a replacement battery, you can purchase one at any pharmacy or contact our Customer Service Center at 1-87-SPEEDPASS (1-877-733-3727).

Browsing on Speedpass' own website, it appears that there is NO security other than needing physical possession of the "speedpass" device. (Their "Question and Answer" section specifically states that you don't even need to type in a PIN number)

So...who's going to be the first to build a directional "Pringles(tm) Can" antenna to record SpeedPass exchanges, and publish schematics for programmable speedpass "emulators"?

The only way I'd consider bothering with this is if I could get a "buffer" account to tie it to, and dump, say, $50 in it at a time from my real account (so that if my "Speedpass" gets stolen and is used before I have a chance to transfer the money back out of the "buffer" account, I wouldn't be able to lose more that $50 or so...) Tying it to a Credit Card just seems completely insane to me, especially since other posts say that YOU are liable for unauthorized charges on the thing...

UPDATE:

I looked on their web page and they had a search form for speedpass locations. A search for San Diego resulted in a "sorry no locations in your area" message.

After I saw the response to the parent post I went to google and found the same page, it wouldn't load for a couple min and then loaded a half page, then loaded a full page. The results were interesting after the same search:
the first gave 1 listing without any details such as address.
The second gave 5 without addresses.
the third gave 5 with all addresses.

I can only think that they have updated their page or database while I was trying to search.

There are at least 5 locations in san diego that accept speedpass.

They offer applications for speedpass free online.

I can't see why it would go on credit cards.

One word: Speedpass. It's nothing other than a keyfob RFID tag that you carry around and use in lieu of a credit card. For all intents and purposes it is your credit card to a Speedpass reader.

Mobil and Exxon use these things at their pumps. McDonalds is testing them in the Chicago area. If it catches on I expect to see the readers in more places.

And, I expect someone to devise a little portable interrogator for these suckers. Stand in line next to your target, interrogate his Speedpass tag to get its ID, then use the ID yourself to make your own purchase. Hopefully some sort of challenge/response protocol is used to prevent this sort of abuse, but I haven't come across any sort of information about it.

It could be useful for ecommerce activities such as automating transactions. If each item in the GAP were tagged with some unique induction loop activated chip you could walk up to a kiosk with a pair of jeans and your GPS phone and then utilize an online wallet service (probably paypal or visa) to help you pay for the transaction.

Of course, this is exactly the kind of thing that bluetooth is supposed to provide. I'd be curious to see this technology used in Japan. They, afterall, seem to have the support for mobile commerce and communications.

IMHO The closest thing we might have in The States to this kind of ecommerce currently is Speedpass. The adoption patterns for Exonn-Mobil's Speed Pass are what you would expect: heavy usage by fleet vehicles and heavy among brand-loyal consumers. There is no inscentive for anyone else. Until these kinds of payment methods become accepted by the public at large there will be little desire by retailers to confuse the payment process. We'll probably get there in ten or twenty years.

Actually, most of the examples given miss crucial points; either you have to use your credit card each time, or the "tab" you run up must be recorded and entered by the server. A couple of closer matches to Amazon's 1-click "patent" would be the transponders in Mobil SpeedPass and E-Z Pass (for paying tolls w/o stopping). You have something that lets you charge a credit card w/o having to present the card each time.

Admittedly, with SpeedPass this is not necessarily easier than using your card to pay at the pump, but it does take the credit card out of the loop. The E-Z Pass is a lot more like it. Drive through, and you're automatically charged.