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Radio Credit Cards Move Closer
pvt_medic writes "CNN.com has an article about research that some major credit card companies (MasterCard and American Express) are putting into creating 'contactless' credit cards. These are similar to the Speedpass that ExxonMobil has been using for six years. What to people think about the prospect of this more widespread use of RFID? Is this something that will only lead to more credit card fraud, or will it provide more secure means of payment?" (The article comes from the Associated Press.)
We have a method of payment that can subtract electronic mone from your account, with no input from you, and without your card ever leaving your wallet? Yeah, thats a great idea....
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
This will make charging people to walk past my house much easier. In the past it's been tough for me to collect the $50 that I charge.
I agree. Nothing's more annoying than handing someone $10.15 for a $5.15 bill and watching the other person take out a calculator.
Another reason to sniff the wireless frequencies. You may not be able to get into most cell networks these days, but this will bring all kinds of fun the the quest. Someone will figure out how to hack this inside three months. At least right now I have to match a signature (though nobody checks the card) and my debit card has my picture on it. God knows I won't want to get one of these.
Standing on the shoulders of giants.
I predict a booming market in shielded wallets.
The idea that the merchant doesn't have to touch the card makes it pretty unlikely that they'll check the id and the signature of the buyer, so this encourages fraud. It should at least require a PIN.
Also, there is no way for the customer to control access to the card. My sister recently picked me up at Kennedy airport, and as she was holding the parking fee money out the window, the attendant charged the fee to her EZpass because he was too lazy to look up. There wasn't enough room on the pass so she got hit with a penalty. He wouldn't even look up from his paper when she complained.
So you'll have to keep your card in a metalic wallet, because the lack of physical contact means you can't really control when it's accessed.
It's interesting that I can build a wand and get someone's information off the license in their pocket. Now you could potentially get their credit card number too.
It may be slightly faster, but beyond that I don't see how it's better for the consumer or the business.
I am always suspicious of any new technology whose benefit isn't readily obvious to its potential market. So the value of RFID cards are that you don't "fumble" as much? That's ridiculous. Most outlets allow the customer to swipe their own credit cards, so what is the difference between holding it in front of a reader and swiping it? I know some idiots can't line up the mag stripe on their card sometimes, but do we really need a whole new technology because of that?
It's obvious where the benefit of this is: surreptitious extraction of information and account data. Sit down on a bench with a reader in it, and all your credit card data was just captured. Walk in the door of an establishment and your RFID cards are scanned and the next day you get junk mail.
I feel the same way about "debit cards". These afford the consumer less protection and security than credit cards (which are protected under the Fair Credit Billing Act of 1976) yet this new gimmick was foisted upon consumers offering more convenience. BS.
No thanks. This is not any technology that benefits consumers from any angle I can see.
Basically, the idea is that if both you and the authenticator know the secret password, but you don't want to transmit it, the authenticator sends you some random chunk of data, say message M. You encrypt it using some (presumably one-way) algorithm, using your password as the encryption key to create W. The authenticator also encrypts the same chunk, and, when you send back your W, compares it do his own known-good W. Assuming they match, it means you have the password. The password itself is never sent plaintext.
You seem to be assuming that there is one secret key for the whole system. This would be completely useless, and is obviously not the case. You would need one secret key per person, as I'm sure American Express knows.
..are that your credit card number is everywhere. If people want numbers, they will get them. If they get yours - then thats bad luck. All you have to do is keep an eye on your credit card statements and make sure all the charges are yours. If they aren't call the credit card company and tell them. It's easy as pie. I kills me when I see people overly paranoid about thier CC#'s. I mean, comeon...you go to a restraunt and GIVE your waitress or waiter your card to carry across the room away from your eyes and run it through the machine. If they wanted, it wouldnt be hard for them to copy the numbers. Then..up on the net in a flash. Point being...security for this type of thing is nice, but don't let yourself get lazy depending on it. Keep checking those statements!
adventure-today.com
Who says that it has to be that insecure? I envision a little device that goes on a keychain (similar in that respect to SpeedPass), which has a little button on the side of it. You squeeze the button as you pass it over the scanner. Only when the button is squeezed does the transmitter in the device emit anything.
BTW, why are you so paranoid about a contactless credit card? Do you eat at restaurants and pay with a credit card? Chances are, if you do, some potentially sleazy waiter has taken your credit card out of your sight for a few minutes. Not only can he copy your card, chances are that he knows what city you live in and can then get your home (think billing) address out of the phone book. On top of that, he can look at what kind of clothes you wear and car you drive and make a guesstimate about your credit line.
Why can't we just put a button on the little RFID dongle you would put on your keychain? Answer: we can. And this is what the CC companies should do. I know, speedpass doesn't implement it. But it would be very, very simple to do and go a long way toward easing my fears about this. I'm envisioning something similar to a Photon light.
Even better, why not pair it with an always-on RFID in your wallet, and only allow transactions when both are present? This'd prevent simple theft by valets, pursesnatchers, etc.