Casio's Credit Card Watch

Takuryu writes "Casio, working with Japanese credit card company, JCB, has developed a combination credit card wristwatch. Workers at the main JCB office wear the RFID tagged watches and use them for security access at the office, as well as for paying for lunch in the cafeteria. I wonder what percentage of employees they have tagged?"

Comments

Bring on the comments

[Dizzle]

We all know what's going to be said. The watch is easily stolen. Has been for years and years. That's what makes it so appealing to criminals. This isn't going to catch on and for good reason. The security on these devices sounds like nothing at all.

Re:Bring on the comments

[lambent]

And what's the security on your regular plastic credit card? That there's a non-verifiable signature on it that most merchants never check? That sometimes, for an online sale, the merchant asks you to turn over the card and input that 3-4 number code on the back?

If anybody ever gets physical access to your stuff, it's pretty much always game-over. Doesn't matter if it's your wallet, cc-watch, speedpass, or whatever you use.

Re:Bring on the comments

[icejai]

And don't forget this point:

If you lose your watch, or if it gets stolen... chances are, the crook won't realise there's credit card information *in it*. There'll be a pretty good chance they'll think it's any other watch. Unless it says "CREDIT CARD WATCH" on the wristband...

Re:Bring on the comments

[AlphaPB]

The usual procedure after a theft of one's smart card is to cancel that particular card, just as one would cancel a credit card. However, since most smart cards are debit-based systems, there might not be any theft protection limit like that in regular credit cards (where the cardholder is responsible for $50, then the rest is taken care of by the company).

Since this is a credit card watch, I suppose the credit card company would treat it as regular card. In that case, the only reason that this would be a bad idea is that it most likely won't have the cardholder's signature on it for verification purposes, making it easier for the thief to use the card. Most clerks in America don't bother to check the signature anyway, so I don't see this as much of a problem.

The watch is easily stolen. Has been for years and years. That's what makes it so appealing to criminals.

If you're saying that it's just easy to steal a watch that is in plain view, I'd say that it's mostly expected that people carry around wallets and cell phones, so it doesn't make a thief more likely to rob a person wearing a watch. Unless, of course, they target people wearing fancy-looking watches. In that case, the ugly plastic quartz watch in the article will have the unexpected benefit of deterring thieves.

Re:Bring on the comments

[Bryan Andersen]

That's what looking over sholders is for. With enough determination anything is defeatable.

The comment on wondering how many were tagged reminded me of the RFID tagsd we use on cattle. We know how much each steer in our feed lot eats and when they do it.

Re:Bring on the comments

[zurab]

The range can be "configured" to be quite small - thus you are safe.

No, you are not. No matter how small the range, you can still get scanned in public places like crowded buses and other transportation as well as theaters, shopping malls, events with crowded people, or even while standing in line. The difference is that a thief does not have to pick your pocket. The thing should definitely have an on/off switch; except that that's not how most, if not all, passive RFID chips work.

The scary thing is the credit card receipt copy that the merchant keep that actually contain your number and expiry date!

That is why most relatively new credit card processing machines do not print the credit card number (maybe only last 4 digits) or an expiry date on the receipt. Obviously, manual processing of the credit card is not as "safe."

Security??

[Drooling_Sheep]

Are the watches protected from simply scanning everyones as they walk past and collecting thousands of credit card numbers? Or someone could set up a series of stations throughout a mall that charge small innocuous looking charges to cars from "shell" corporations and do like they did in Office Space.

Re:Security??

[ryan89]

I doubt the actual credit card number is stored on the watch. I have one of those SpeedPass keychains for Mobil gas stations that has an RFID like tag in it. It doesnt store the credit card number, but a unique ID that when I pump gas, it will read the number and charge the account associated with it. I would hope these work the same way. Kind of like how the PIN number for your debit card isn't actually stored on the magnetic strip of the card.

Re:Security??

[PatHMV]

It's a number which, if transmitted in the proper format, will allow access to your credit. Thus, it is a credit card number for all intents and purposes. That it's a different number than the one printed on your old fashioned card doesn't matter.

What is so difficult about using a credit card?

[PatHMV]

I mean, how hard is it to just swipe a card? Are they that insecure about their appearance that they don't want to wear security ID badges around their necks? Using RFID for security badges and charge cards seems to me like a solution in search of a problem...

So Store clerks swipe your watch now?

[billstewart]

And does this means they're going to steal it, or just cram it into that narrow slot in the reader?

Looks sweet

[gid13]

I find it ironic that, in my opinion, the main reason this has a good chance of catching on is that it looks really good.

Good Concept but....

[Shivantrill]

This is a good concept on the surface. I know I hate having to wear my goofy security badge to gain access to our offices.
One problem I see is privacy. I have always thought that having to key in and out of work insures security but also tracks your movements. My security badge has to be really close to the reader to register, RFID tags have more range right? So what is to stop an employer from tracking your every move. I know it sounds paranoid but some companies are really strict with breaks and things.
The other problem I see is wearability and security.
Security because watches are easily lost, stolen, left behind... Since there is no picture on the watch to verify the person, presumably anyone can use anyone else's.
Wearability because as a female, I own at least 3 watches to suit my moods and clothing. With everyone having the same watch, we are one step closer to uniformity. This squelches uniqueness and creativity.

security

[Sinful_Shirts]

Ok, I'm not an expert but if your watch is emitting your credit card information.... how can that be secure?

Re:Chicken and the Egg

[DAldredge]

No, putting ones credit card number in a device that is read remotely over an unencrypted connection isn't the next logical step, it is the next STUPID step.

What happened

[aussie_a]

to the days when not everyone had a credit card? I abhore the concept of credit cards as they encourage people to buy things they don't have the money for. For this reason I don't like taking out loans, and if I could live life without doing so I would (unfortunately if you want to own your house it is impossible for the average person to achieve this without a loan). There are two ways to spend money: 1. Save it up and then spend it 2. Borrow then spend then repay it I prefer to do the first thing myself. After all, you're eventually going to have to pay for the thing (and possibly with interest) so why not do without for a time until you can afford it. But new technology is only favouring the second payment option with credit cards getting all this new fandangled tech, but bank cards aren't getting anything. Seems strange to me.

Re:666

[TheLoneCabbage]

ok. Let's get a few things straight.

1) He didn't go to a public school. It was private. My school did ban it because the disrupted class. And I thought he was full of it too, until I was standing next to him one day in the mall and he got 'demerits' because he was caught outside school wearing shorts. (All the more so, he couldn't where them in school either)

2) I don't hate religion. You can check my previous posts. I'm quite the advocate of it. I'm a practicing Orthodox Jew. Ritual, custom, belief are all good things. But when a religion teaches you to hate yourself (or others), as his did (he was/is gay) I can't condone it. There are many ways to G_d, and I do not claim an exclusive. But I'm d@mn sure after what they did to him, it was NOT the way!

Wow...

[Anonymous Coward]

So the only new spin on this is that unlike at VNC when they were working on this, that the form factor is a wrist watch instead of a RFID card carried somewhere on your body.

I remember reading about what the developers were trying to do with VNC - walk into an empty office, RFID reader on the computer spawns up your working desktop on the computer in the room. Also, they had an internal webpage that tracked everyone's movements in the office (more like, which rooms people were in...).

So, if you don't like RFID stuff, don't be a hypocrite and use VNC at the same time...

Implementing an existing, working technology into a "new" formfactor, like this RFID card-in-a-wristwatch isn't really a lot of innovation, especially if there is no other value-add.

Now, reducing an espresso machine to a wristwatch formfactor, THAT could be seen as an innovation...

Re:Mark of the beast, v.01

[adzoox]

I am a religious man, but I have to say the Mark of the Beast is WAY overhyped with the RFID.

What you don't understand (or maybe you do) is that "even better" technology exists to facilitate such a "mark". You have thumbprints, you have unique DNA.

Watch the movie Gattaca - it will show you how we will be tracked in the future. There's nothing about RFID there. THis said, I think we will also be able to be located by thermal scan or biorythm as easily as GPS. This is already somewhat possible. All it would take is required thermal/biorythm monitors in all public places. These would be cameras, but identifiers. They could be pitched as "identification control" - see it wouldn't record that you did a crime, but if a crime were committed - your biorythm could be placed at the crimescene.

The future of payment lies within the "number of his name" as the mark of the beast.