Slashdot Mirror
Online Banking And Browser Support
robbo writes "Earlier this week, The Register ran a piece on major UK banks and E-commerce sites' refusal to support alternative browsers for online banking, and they followed up with a list of saints and sinners. The reasons vary from requiring support for proprietary technology to security. My own bank only recently started supporting Netscape 6 (but they still don't support Mozilla). Clearly, support for Mozilla, Konqueror, or Galeon are absolutely necessary if projects like GNUCash can successfully integrate online banking. How does the Slashdot crowd find their banking support? Is your bank a sinner or a saint?"
It is about time that we allow the Open Source developer community full control to our financial institutions. With their vast experience in mutual fund trend prediction we can maximize the profits in our portofolios. These additional funds would allow the Open Source community to thrive in an environment where they can have access to the latest tools.
Only when we face great institutions head-on can we loosen the stranglehold that CitiBank holds in the lives of the average Mexican.
Wearing pants should always be optional.
Isn't that an oxymoron?
I think you're the only person who actually understands why banks are doing this. Congratulations, you've passed the slashbot test (99.2% likelyhood that you are not a bot.)
Banks can't afford to allow their sites to work with just any browser. Say, for instance, that someone writes and distributes a browser that, as part of its HTTP protocol, posts all HTTP headers sent by any user to httpspew.com as part of a modern art project. Someone uses this browser, his/her account gets hacked, and who gets blamed? Legally, the bank may not be liable, but from a corporate perspective that really doesn't matter. People lose money = you lose business.
It seems like it would be sufficient, though, to just list "officially supported" browsers, with a big warning message if you are using another browser that your money's not safe, your account may be at risk, "if you were standing at an ATM would you let 5 strangers look over your shoulder," etc.
"Opera is "alternative" because it leads a gay lifestyle."
Thath enough of thith Opera bashing! It maketh me tho mad... I jutht wanna... wanna... give you a good hard thpanking!
"Derp de derp."
How do you suppose a bank could ever be held liable for *my* software misbehaving?
If you're an annoymous open-source developer, who are "you"? The software can't be liable if no one knows where it comes from or what it is. Who does that leave to be liable?
They have no place telling me what browser I can use.
I suppose they also have no place telling you you can't break open the keypad on an ATM and wiring in your own custom interface to the PalmOS so you can do your ATM banking using that interface. They're not telling you what browser you can use... they're defining a known interface with known liability targets to their secure system. If you don't like it, don't bank there.