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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?"
this is why i always 'lock' my computer at work when ever i'm not actively using it. I cringe when I see all the terminals people have walked away from wide open and unattended.
hell the funny thing is it's habit I lock my PC at home when getting up for a minute.
actually I am happy to see you, however that is in fact a banana in my pocket.
Totally. I woudn't want one of these watches unless I could store all my credit cards on in, plus all my network passwords, social security number and my driver's license number. Maybe you can use the watch to scan your previous order at the caf, and have it paid for and waiting for you to pick up?
The article mentions one of the more popular timepieces for Japanese kids is "NTT Docomo" (their mobile phone).
I haven't worn a watch since I last sat an exam. between my computer when I'm at my desk or PDA, phone and until recently pager when I'm not (all banned from aforesaid exam room), I always know what the time is. Indeed most of the time I don't really need to know what the time it is as my PDA will beep when I need to be somewhere. The rest of the time, who cares?
Unless vendors can integrate existing devices into a wristwatch, I suspect its days might be numbered. Even this possibility seems unlikely as the screens and data-entry possibilities for wristwatches are somewhat limited.
Then again... They said we'd be in the paperless office by now. I don't see the pencil on the way out.
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I'd like to see something like this where it was inactive by default, so that you HAD to turn it on for it to be visible to the sensors. All I'm asking for is a button, rather than constant on. I have no interest in having a little tag telling anything that asks who I am, and leaving footprints behind me.
This kinda makes me feel ashamed to admit, but I've actually thought of whipping up a wallet or portfolio that would block/disrupt anything such as RF, active broadcast, etc. It's feeling like we're getting to the point where most of the things we carry(ID, licenses, credit cards, money) are going to have the ability to give out more information than I'm comfortable with.
I'm sure going to modify the next briefcase I buy with some goodies. Forget just lead, foil and copper lined, it's time for some active interference.
Granted Speedpass isn't accepted everywhere by any means but gas and nowadays many McDonalds and a few supermarkets (in certain areas.)
The standard unit is small enough to just ditch the keychain and tuck the bead in my wallet; in fact with a bit of crazy glue I'm sure I could turn anything into a credit card of sorts. Since Mobil gives them away free (no fees, just a draw to their places) the tech must be cheap as hell- little more than an inductor/antenna and a simple IC with a serial number... it's basically less circuitry than a typical disposable camera, and far less than a digital watch.
Imagine the day when RFID tags are so common every coke bottle has one. Now cut them off and pack, say, 1000 or more int a match box. Carry them with you at all times. A reader sends a request and gets 1000 replies. 1000 not enough? Get 10.000. I wonder how many replies the reader would be able to handle simultaneously and how efficiently the chips could jam each other.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
If your petrol station reads a unique ID that *isn't * your credit card number off the card, and hands it off to the bank, it's far easier to check that card 0144829 (belonging to Patrick Martin) was scanned by reader 2841 (pump 4) at retailer 22019 (Esso Canniesburn Road, G61 ???). Now, since the credit authorisation bureau know that Esso are allowed to accept your card, that's great, it works. If J Random Crook gets hold of the number he would also have to spoof the reader and store number. So, we apply a little bit of public-key encryption, and it makes it pretty much impossible.
This is where customer profiling (yes, I know the redneck gun nut privacy freak survivalists will howl and gibber) comes in handy. You *always* get petrol from that petrol station, filling up every Friday when you get paid. So, since that particular transaction always takes place with about 40 quid's worth of petrol, at around 7am on a Friday morning, at that store, then it isn't "interesting".
Then you can bring the (can't be arsed making it a link, find the article yourself) RFID number plates in. So, the credit authorisation system is unfazed by you filling up an 02-reg Fiat Seicento once a week. One particular week your card is used much later, about 0830, and instead of 40 quid's worth of unleaded you put about 60 quid's worth of 98-octane into an F-registered Citroen CX. Eep! That's interesting. It will let you do it just the same, but if it turns out that your card/watch/whatever had been stolen, you would be able to see any "out of character" transactions highlighted on your bill. In this case, of course, your car didn't start so you've borrowed someone else's, and returned it with the tank full 'cos you're a kind and thoughtful person.
Now, this kind of logging would be excessive and possibly intrusive. But - if you could selectively enable what stores are allowed to log your transactions (supermarkets and petrol stations would be a good bet), as well as set "warning" flags ("Hang about, I certainly *don't* want to buy 200 quid's worth of cheap and nasty gold jewellery from Half Price Jewellers in $rough_part_of_town!") that would request additional checks before authorising the payment.
Just a thought.
The scary thing is...
...Besides, the terminal that the c.c. was charged at has to know the number for sure (it DOES need to dial into the bank at the end of the day to "settle the batch")
While its true that the credit card reciepts that you are given back by clerks/waiters/etc have part of your credit card number xxx'ed out,
the part they keep (the merchant copy) contains the entire number. If a chargeback is issued on the account, the merchant must show proof of a signed copy. This copy that is sent in contains the ENTIRE credit card number.
-AC
I worked for a firm that used Javacards to do a simliar thing. You set a debit limit via the intranet, and your food, gym, purchases and the car valet were all taken from your wages each time you swiped.
It came off gross too, for great tax efficiency, plus no banking details were ever transmitted.
Administrators could call the lift (elevator) when they swiped in to work in the morning
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If you take a look at Timex you will see the new line of speedpass enabled watches. This means that when I mug someone I can just get their watches - (which gives me the credit card and spedpass for US gas stations!!!)
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comment directly in my journal
I read several comments about how most cashiers don't even check the signatures.
I always get a big laugh when one of them does check the signature. Why would management think that a cashier that can't make change if the cash register is down is suddenly a signature expert when someone uses a credit card?
Several years ago one of the news magazine shows on TV did a story where they took some of those credit cards with the people's pictures on them and gave them to staffers and sent them into stores in New York. If I recall correctly non of them had any problems using the credit cards, even the Asian lady using one with the picture of an African American man on the front of the card.
I figured this was one of those conspiracies that the big corporations (in this case the credit card industry and big companies) did not want you to know about. The fact that either it is impossible to create a truly secure system either due to cost or technical issues, or that the credit card companies have calculated that it is not worth the cost to do so and that the general public has been conditioned to pay high interest fees which cover all the losses incured by credit card theft. As such the credit card companies encourage poor credit card handling and poor use of cards by the consumer (example: the get a card here to repair your poor credit scams).
And the debit card scam is even worse! Why the heck would I want something that can suck my hard earned money directly out of my check account? Or is this just another way to get those poor souls that can't get a regular credit card? When you lose a debit card the panic has to be 100 times worse. I don't think many banks will restore your money in that case, unlike a credit card which is the credit cards money not yours.