Are Signature Pads Dangerous to Privacy?

WildHunter asks: "While making a foray into a local retailer today I paid using a credit card and was asked to sign a paper receipt on top of a digital pad. Being cautious I asked what it was for and I was assured that it was 'fully secure and safe to use'. Being a typical paranoid Slashdotter I offered to sign off of the pad but refused to sign on the pad. Was I over reacting or can someone back up my paranoia with some facts?" Think about it, some deceitful vendor has one of these, sells you something, gets your signature, and can then ring up loads of charges on your card using a digital copy of said signature over, and over, and over... you get the idea. Do the current crop of signature pads prevent against this and other similar kind of deceit?

Comments

Re:Regular vs digital

[Anonymous Coward]

Posting as AC for numerous reasons...

A feature that is very much lost with this "digital signature"

Good tablets record the pressure. They also record other information (pen orientation) that may be used to verify identity. Once you have the dynamic record of the signature you can do more (think pen velocity along the strokes, quite individual, those little loops you do on the "e's and 'a's, lots of identifying data there).
The simple answer is Don't use your real signature on the pads. They could record enough data to reproduce things. Use an 'X' for the couriers.

Signature Required

[D.A. Zollinger]

Actually, they record your signature for their protection, and put it in a database that record what you bought when you used your credit card. They do this because if you dispute the charges, the Credit Card company always falls on the side of their customer, unless they have a great reason why they should not believe them. So the first thing the credit card company is going to ask for is proof that the customer made the purchase they claim they did not make. If the merchant can provide the signature, credit card number, and an invoice of what they bought, they are half way towards winning their side of the dispute.

All that the signature pad does is give them a digital carbon copy that they can more easily manage. No more paper receits, and it is easier to keep them all in one centralized repository that they can access if a dispute arrises.

However, this does not mean that you or the merchant can be lax in their duties. You must still watch out for the fraudulent merchant who may charge you for more than the purchase is worth. The waiter who will slip extra items on your bill. We may not have to worry if merchants shred their carbons anymore, but worry about how those who have access to the new storage medium use that access. Always review your credit card statement, and compare it with receits you saved from your purchases. Double check everyone's work, because it is your money they are playing around with.