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Exxon And Timex Release The Speedpass watch
introverted writes "Exxon and Timex have released a Speedpass-enabled watch. From the article, this sounds like a regular Timex watch with an RFID chip in it. According to a radio news story, you can not only use the watch to buy gas, but at some locations in Chicago you can also use it at McDonald's. The watch is available from Timex. This was first mentioned on Slashdot in March last year."
So are these watches which would normally cost $45, but have a Speedpass built-in gratis? A Speedpass is free, I would hate to pay extra for the same thing just because it's in a watch.
so now the guy who steals your watch can get free gas...
A month later, all of them has taken down the receivers and nary a word was said. I think the central problem in this one example is that nobody wants to hand 10 bucks to a holding company to buy burgers on 49-cent Wednesday.
We want to use our debit cards like we do almost everywhere else.
GTRacer
- 1077, same as a cheese pizza and a soda...
Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
Lost your wallet?
Lost the time?
Which do you value more? I hope the watch band is sturdy.
- Dan
The UN is offering an RFID-embedded tattoo! The bearer is guaranteed the ability to buy and sell in any member countries without currency! Suggested locations for the tattoo are on the back of one's hand or the forehead.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
And I'll have a dose of common sense. Don't want your privacy 'invaded', don't buy the damn watch, don't use speedpass, don't use ez-pass, don't use credit cards, don't use a bank account. My message to all of you knee jerk "invasion of privacy" people is this: don't stop those of us (who clearly don't care for privacy) who want to use these products from using them. If you don't want to make things easier, you don't have to.
Come on people, form an orderly line! There's enough for everybody to have one!
Get your own mark of the beast right here!
You idiot geeks and your gadget fetish. You'd scream bloody murder if GW Bush forced you to wear one of these. But since it's a neat gadget and a convienence, you'll don your shackles eagerly. ex - see CELL PHONES
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Sign the back. I don't see anywhere to sign the back of my watch.
what if someone steals my wallet?
So I don't carry cash. But I'll be damned if I'll go from a more secure to less secure method of transaction. I also imagine there's no credit protection for this speedpass system, as there is for all credit cards. No go.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
So just have one kid who carries all the watches to school, and the others ditch. The watch carrier could be rotated so everyone gets a chance to ditch...
Now, if we imbed the RFID chip in their skull, then it might work... With enough science, technology, and BigBrother (TM) we can get kids to go to school.
Or we could just pay attention to our kids, and make our schools interesting enough that kids want to go, and get parents to stop ignoring their kids as soon as they can use the bathroom on their own....
Hmm, looks like science and technology will win this one, eh?
I love it when moderators mod posts as "Trolls" when they disagree or don't understand. The parent poster had a perfectly valid point. How is this an invasion of privacy? It's nothing more than a credit card you don't have to swipe or sign for. I've been using a Speedpass for my cars' gas for about 5 years now (Esso has 'em in Canada), and let me tell you, it's damn convenient. It's even faster than debit.
Pull up to the pump. Exit car. Wave Speedpass over receiver. While it is authorizing, take off your gas cap, lift the nozzle, and select your fuel type. By then, the authorization's gone through and you're already pumping. When full, replace nozzle. By the time you screw the gas cap back on, the receipt is ready. Get back in car and drive off. And if you don't want to wait for your receipt, no worries, it doesn't have your credit card number on it anyway.
Debit might sound like not much more hassle, but remember: I'm in Canada. It gets damn cold up here in the winter. I can pay with Speedpass and pump my gas without ever having to remove my gloves or mitts. Not so with debit. Try taking out your wallet, removing and swiping your card, then punching a bunch of buttons with mitts on in -35 degree weather. Aside from being slower, it's just plain not possible.
People who shriek about "privacy" regarding these types of benign things have either never used them, or are just whoring for karma. There is no privacy issue. They're basically just a credit card you don't have to sign for.
If you lose the tag, cancel the credit card. Same as if you'd lost the card itself. Since the Speedpass tags are almost always with your car keys anyway, if you lost your tag, then you probably lost your car keys too, and you've got more things to worry about than privacy. Like, say for example, canceling that credit card and finding your car!
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
however, ALL gadget watches (with the sole exception of the Breitling with the emergency beacon in it) look like cack on your wrist and mark you out as a sad sack.
USB watch storage? Ugh. Microsoft Spot? Ack. That Fossil Palm-on-your-wrist? Please.
Real men buy Omega Seamasters and leave the gadgets in their pockets.
Slightly better than the method of paying at most restaurants: handing your credit car to a waiter/waitress getting paid less than minimum wage and letting them, away from your eyes, handle the transaction.
Minor nit. Another multi-year Speedpass user here, and we were typing at the same time about using it in the cold. Nit: If you lose the fob, don't cancel the credit card! Just call Speedpass customer service and cancel the fob. That way, you can still get gas with your card until the replacement fob arrives..
I'm surprised how many people have said, "just cancel the card" here. Its not THAT tightly bound to the card. I had mine bound to a check card a year before they approved it. Also, they call you when they detect unusual activity. I had to fill up every 2 days for 2 weeks, so they called to see if everything was ok.
Intelligent Life on Earth
Using a Speedpass to buy McDonalds... is probably a sign that you're eating too much McDonalds!
How hard would it be for some unscrupulous person to just hood up a speedpass reader in a high traffic area and try to read, and charge, every speedpass that happened to pass within a foot or so?
Wireless internet connection + speedpass reader + batterys or whatever power source...
I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have my pocket picked electronically...
how is this different in security? Everyone is doing the standard "invasion of privacy" and "lack of security" response here. I'll agree it lessens privacy a little more (as if it could go any lower), but is it any less secure than anything else.
Consider, for example, the following:
1. We give our credit cards to a less-than minimum wage employee each time we pay for a meal at a restaraunt. The credit card leaves our sight for several minutes.
2. We give our credit card with no signature over the phone and internet all the time.
3. Does anyone match the signature on the credit card with the signature you provide anyway? I've seen it done in some cities, but here in the West people normally give you the card back before you even sign.
4. This could go on, but the point is made.
Credit cards work because the companies cover the losses (for the most part). It's cheaper to cover losses than to prevent them. These watches and whatever else comes in the future will probably work the same.
Nothing's changed here, people. Move along...
And believe it or not, more places check than you'd think.
My experience (and I'm sure other people will chime in) says the complete opposite. I've used my parents credit cards to buy many things. I'm not talking about going and buying a pack of gum. I'm talking about TVs, air conditioners, stereo systems. Thousands of dollars. I was almost never questioned, even though I was signing a different name than was on the credit card (some times I just signed anything, who can read the scribble that is some people's signature?). The one time I can recall being questioned, the salesman said to me "just sign whatever name is on the front, and we'll be fine". And now, when I use my card, it is rarely in a situation where anyone can check the signature. At the grocery store, the card readers are on my side of the counter, and I sign on the reader. The clerk never sees the card. At the gas station (this is NJ, no self serve), at places where they don't have on-pump readers (which require no signature), they hand me back my card and my reciept, then I sign the store copy. How can they check the sig if they just handed me back the card? Before my card expired a few months ago, my signature had rubbed off the back. I specifically didn't resign it just to see if anyone noticed. No one did.
This does not condone vendor lock-in at all. If they were handing out free gas caps that only their nozzles would fit in then yes. You are still free to use that first cheap gas station if you desire and still use your existing CC. It does add a slight tickler in your mind to use an Exxon/Mobile but that is far from a lock-in. I just got my SpeedPass last month and have only used it once so far. The station I used it at was one I frequently use anyway. The SpeedPass is nice to have but I choose not to go out of my way to use it.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
http://www.ti.com/tiris/docs/news/news_releases
"RFID systems feature a digital signature encryption protocol that has a challenge/response authentication to ensure complete consumer protection.
This technique makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible to duplicate the transponder (tag), or the secret encryption key. And, even if the key were duplicated, it would only be valid for one tank of gas, making it a very expensive tank of gasoline for a would-be criminal. "
My take is that it's more secure than the credit cards in my pocket. So what's the problem then?
you mean like public/private key pairs for RFID transmission? if they didn't already do something like this, I'd be fairly surprised.
of course people have no qualms with handing their credit card to any kid in a smock, and swiping a credit card number from their machines is no-tech/no-cost/no-brained compared to an RFID receiver.
then there's the lack of an increase in car-theft that followed the proliferation of rf key fobs to lock/unlock car doors.
perhaps the hard cap of people willing to commit meat-space crimes has already been reached - regardless of the level of technology? particularly when they can still easily perform the same type of theft without even knowing what rfid is?
aside from all that, credit card theft leaves the burden of proof on the bank - not me. it's their money that's in limbo while the issue is up in the air. with debit, theft can result in the money being gone from my account until they can resolve the issue. a much more worrying situation. particularly considering the average speed of bank investigations when it's your money on the line.
so while i would be extremely hesitant to tie an rf payment fob to a debit card, i'm open to the idea of tying it to a credit card probably even without strong encryption.
of course i'm already hesitant to use debit cards for the same reason. particularly since i've yet to find a vendor who actually requires the pin to be entered. though admittedly i don't use it much.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
Sure I'm all for anyone who wants to "use" these technologies but those who choose NOT to use these technologies should have alternatives that don't cost any MORE then the current "popular" offering. then its a real choice and not a choice driven by cost and/or user fees.
A good example is the rapidly disappearing acceptance of personal cheques in Canada. In fact most big chains like WALMART don't accept cheques anymore.
So if I chose NOT to use a debit card and I can't write a cheque, I guess I should start carrying my bag of loonie and toonies around with my bag of coal! (:-
If technology is all about choice then lets be fair about the types of choices offered and how they are being offered.
Not to mention the fact that you don't technically have to sign for a credit card either. Do you sign anything when you pay at the pump with your credit card?
(sound of crickets)
Yeah, that's what I thought. Even on purchases, you don't always have to sign. What do you sign when you make an internet transaction? If you go to a store, they technically don't have to make you sign something if it is under a certain dollar amount (can't remember offhand what it is).
Personally, I don't use a Speedpass because I don't always go to Mobil. If I had one, I would probably always go to them, and I refuse to be controlled by their clever, evil marketing ideas. :-)
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
... I keep wanting to go back to using CASH for everything.
-- I am. Therefore, I think!
If you notice how close you have to get your keychain to the pump at a Mobil station, you'll see that you have to pratically touch the sign with the keychain to get it to read. Therefore, there's a pretty good security against unauthorized reading in just plain the physics of the situation.
Besides, the actual credit card number isn't on the tag, simply a tag ID value that converts back to a credit card on file at SpeedPass headquarters. This creates an extra layer of transaction approval, as Mobil can quickly notice "Hey, that tag can't be both in Texas and Maine 15 minutes appart..." among other things. Tracking the thieves would also become a very trivial task, since gas being put into a car would usually reveal a license plate to a security camera.
Don't want your privacy 'invaded', don't buy the damn watch,
That's fine... for now. What happen in a few years when stores offer 'special deals' to people who use this system? What happens when stores open 5 checkout lanes for RFID users, and one for 'cash' (like many highway toll plazas do now)?
Protesting then will be too late, so we're protesting now.