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The Universal Card
retro128 writes "Wired News is carrying a story about a new product from Chameleon Network that's supposed to replace all of your credit/debit/customer cards. It can read the information off of the magnetic strips of credit/debit cards, scan the barcode off of customer loyalty cards, and even memorize the RFID signals of devices like the Mobil SpeedPass. All of this information is stored in a device called the Pocket Vault, and is unlocked with the user's fingerprint. If you wish to use a magnetic strip card, you select the card from the touch screen and put a Chameleon card, which looks like and can be run in standard readers like a credit card, in the Pocket Vault. The Chameleon card will then assume the identity of the card you selected, but only for 10 minutes. In this way, if the card is lost or stolen, nobody can use it. In the case of RFID, you just hold the Pocket Vault up to the RFID scanner for a reading. For barcode-based cards, the barcode will appear on the screen and can be scanned by a standard barcode reader. Chameleon Network says this technology will be available in early 2005 and is expected to cost under $200."
One has to wonder... what happens if the ATM eats your card? Then again, if the ATM is likely to eat your card, you probably don't have the cash for this gadget anyways.
Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Intelligence is not trying. -- Anonymous
I don't know about other folks, but I've got 3 credit cards, a NYC Metro Card(transit fares), an Employee IS and a drivers license in my wallet.
I wouldn't call that a stack and it's manageable. Never even though of this as being a problem before reading the article.
If someone were to use this gadget, they'd have the 'stack' of cards, AND the gadget to worry about. Right?
Sounds like a waste to me.... Nothing to see here, move along please.
wbs.
Huh?
He wasn't saying it would be easy for thieves to steal the universal cards themselves; it would be easy to actually store stolen cards (be it credit cards, debit cards... whatever) into memory very easily and efficiently! He makes an excellent point and I think it's rather scary. A thief would only need the card for a second, and they would have card in their little database.
What if my Chameleon Card is lost or stolen? With conventional plastic, I can call the issuer, report the card lost/stolen, and have a replacement sent within a couple of days for free (be wary of those companies that would charge you for this service). What is my recourse with Chameleon? Ponying up another $200? Also, what if I destroyed my original cards when transferring their data to the Chameleon device? Is there an online backup somewhere? Or am I shit out of luck?
'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
The criminal element factor was my first reaction to this. Back in the day, I worked as a bartender in a restaurant. I also knew a few people who were 'connected', as it were. These nefarious people had access to a magnetic card writer. I had access to a great many credit cards. I'm sure you can make the connection.
I was paid a non-trivial sum for every credit card number I delivered to them, and more for American Express Platinum cards. I was also paid another amount for pilfering credit cards from the office safe -- you'd be surprised how many people leave their cards behind at a bar and never reclaim them. We would always get at least 5-10 a night, and there was a stack of 100's that people had never claimed.
These people would then re-encode the pilfered cards with the stolen numbers and go on a spending spree. In the event of a store with a last four numbers check, or if security was a concern, they just used another corrupt employee like me to type in the correct four digits. I even recieved a few of these cards as bonus payments myself.
Luckily for me, I got out of the business before it attracted too much attention on my part. However, to this day, I will not use a debit card in place of a credit card. At least with a credit card, you have protection. A debt card just comes right out of your bank account. I certainly tried to not give the criminals debt card numbers, but I'm sure a few slipped through the cracks, and I know that there were co-workers less scrupulous than me.
However, I also wonder if you'd be able to use this device in any store. With all the security in place today, I wonder who would accept this as a valid credit card. I can't even buy things without having the back signed half the time. Then again, it's not like the self-checkout lines at Wal-Mart ever physically inspect my card.
So does this mean I should scale back the work on my planned competing product, the "Carte Blanche?"
On a more serious note, how much of a far-fetched idea did universal remotes appear to be when they were first being developed? While they can be a little bit cumbersome when switching between multiple devices (for those of us who still rig our cable between the VCR, satellite dish, microwave, Bose wave radio, ham radio, heat pump and Tesla coil), it still seems to be generally less hassle than having to switch between remotes to find the appropriate one(s) to use.
Of course, the likelihood of needing multiple cards at one location would be rare, but could this be just the first shot at a product that's bound to come to us eventually, anyway?
___ In the words of Gen. Douglas McArthur: "I'll be right back."
I am always _very_ surprised to hear, you american people, describe their credit card system.
It sounds like middle-age era to the europeans.
For more than ten years now, we have anbandonned the use of the magnetic tape (not to speak of imprinting...).
Every credit card is equipped with a chip, is protected by a password (a four-digit code) that has to be typed on the card-reader for _anything_ you buy. And if the price is higher than some limit (say $100), the system contacts your bank.
No signature is ever used.
If you want to steal a card, you have to ask for the code (still better than to be asked for your thumb, btw).
It is difficult to copy a card. You cannot simply read it and make a copy. There have been some breach in the past, they have been somewhat fixed afterwards. They have remained small in their extend, and the bank had to cover any subsequent loss themselves (by law). It would be possible to do something even better, but apparently, the costs of upgrading the system are higher than those induced by fraud.
I guess it is the same issue that makes you keep your aging system.
That's $200 you're whipping out in front of everyone. So easy to lose, and so tempting to steal (even if they can't get the data in it).
Here's what would make more sense: All credit/debit cards require the reader to verify and register the purchase. Instead you open up a meta-account with a debit card that you register ALL your cards and bank accounts with, and then use just that card, allowing the meta-account to distribute your money for maximum savings or returns. Since interest is compounded daily, paying/investing daily could save/make you a fair chunk of change. Hell, just make it a free government service and make it your driver's license or id, so you don't have to carry anything extra.
Oh, and if you lose it you're not out $200.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Don't forget his new wife: Jane Marie Average-Public, who is still trying to get her Social Security Card re-issued with her married name. Double the fun if she answers to her middle name, triple if people routinely mispell any part of her name (Jayne Mary?)
-- I Am Not A Terrorist.