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Driver's License to be the Next Debit Card
prostoalex writes "Your US driver's license has a magnetic stripe with unique ID in it, and your debit card carries a magnetic stripe with account information on it, so why not link the two together and allow people to use their driver's licenses as debit cards? That's precisely what a young company National Payment Card is doing in select locations, according to Business Week: 'Gas-station owners are pleased with the program too. Because NPC processes the payment as an e-check with the Automated Clearing House (ACH), a network most commonly used for direct deposits, participating retailers bypass credit card companies such as Visa and Mastercard.'"
While we're at it, we might as well socialize the whole entire banking industry, so that all citizens have no choice but to use a government account for their banking services! BRILLIANT!!!
//End Sarcasm
Linearly encoded (greyscale or color) information instead of color/no-color encoded information. Slope encoding. Fuzzy encoding. Charge or field encoding (linear only, of course.) 1D binary digital is more convenient by far than analog (or systems like trinary and upwards, 2D and upwards) but analog isn't out of the question, either.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
rules do not preclude merchants from asking for cardholder ID, merchants
cannot make an ID a condition of acceptance. Therefore, merchants cannot
refuse to complete a purchase transaction because a cardholder refuses to
provide ID. Visa believes merchants should not ask for ID as part of their regular
card acceptance procedures. Laws in several states also make it illegal for
merchants to write a cardholder's personal information, such as an address or
phone number, on a sales receipt.
-Pg 29, Rules for Visa Merchants--Card Acceptance and Chargeback Management Guidelines Even if the cardholder refuses to show ID, the card must still be accepted or else the merchant is in violation of their agreement and therefore subject to termination and blacklisting.
I don't know anyone with a "US" driver's license. I have a Virginia driver's license. Hopefully it will stay that way.
You haven't been paying attention, have you? The role of a driver's license to simply prove that someone has the requisite expertise to operate a motor vehicle are long gone. Now the federal Department of Homeland Security mandates what states put in the cards, and you'll be required to show your national ID whenever you fly or enter a federal building.
E pluribus unum
The machine asks for some info ahead of time, while it tries to make a network connection and do the validation. This gives you the illusion of speed and interactivity. So after a while, when it finally figures out that it is a dud card, it pops the card back out and forgets whatever you selected.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
No clerk is ever supposed to ask to see ID when taking a credit/debit card. This is specifically against the policy of every major credit card company (Visa, Master Card, Discover, AmEx). If your card is unsigned, the clerk must reject it. If your card is signed with a variation of "See ID", the clerk must also reject it unless the official name of the card user really is "See ID". If the signatures don't match up, a clerk has discretion to reject or accept, but since most people have quite a bit of variance in how they sign their signature this requires some leeway. I clerk should only ask you for ID when you're purchasing something that requires an age check -- alcohol, tobacco, skin mags, R-rated movies, and M-rated games (don't you just love how those last two are lumped in with the first three?).
Protecting your identity is up to you and your bank. If you suspect your card is lost or stolen, cancel it (get a new account number). If you notice odd charges on your monthly bill, contest them and cancel your card. Every credit card company will revert contested charges, and you're not liable for them (some have a dollar amount, like you're not liable for anything over $50 or $100).
Credit card theft is relatively untenable, because any alert user will check his statement and find the fraudulent charges (if you don't look at your statement, either mommy and daddy do or you shouldn't have a credit card at all). As such I wouldn't worry about credit cards when worrying about identity theft. What's much more difficult to track is loan applications made in your name, because you have to actively retrieve (and usually pay for) your credit report. It's not mailed to you on a monthly basis.
How many cards are you carrying around, anyway? If you have more than two or three, you've got a problem with credit. What you need:
- ATM/debit card
- Major-label credit/debit card (may be the same as #1) with a Visa or Master Card logo
- Optionally a secondary card from a "smaller" company like Discover or AmEx, because you can get good deals with those but they're not accepted everywhere like #2.
What you don't need:Why not put all things in your cell phone? If the cards aren't going to have pictures, and possession is proof of identity, just shove it in the cell phone. The only ones that I can see wanting to not have in the cell phone are ones that prove identity via some other means such as a picture or description. Even then, put it in the cell phone, lock out that part of the cell phone from editing except by the controlling party of that data (yeah, it'll be hacked but it'll be just as secure as photo IDs are, I imagine), tie it to a central DB to register tampering, and stick a private code on there so that someone who steals the cell phone can't just start using your credit card everywhere.
:)
Sound silly? Look at FeLiCa in Japan. There are vaios with felica readers so you can tap your cell phone to your keyboard to pay for internet purchases. FeLiCa on vending machines. Train stations. Convenience Stores.
I'd LOVE this scenario. As it is, being in Japan, I have an ICOCA in my wallet, that I use to get on any train I'm likely to get on in a hundred mile radius, works at many of the train station convenience stores, and I don't have to think about purchasing tickets or anything, and all I have to do is take my wallet out and tap it on the pad. My cell phone has FeLiCa built in, but since it's a rental phone I don't use it. I need only a few items: Cash, for places that don't yet take the various electronic payment methods (credit/debit card included, it's rather rare here).. ICOCA for the train, convenience stores, etc. And the key to the apartment I'm staying at. It's rather nice..
If your credit card is stolen, you are only liable for the first $50 of fraudlent charges.
Debit cards give you NO such protection. If your debit card is stolen and used to drain your bank account, you have no recourse but to eat the losses.
Furthermore, since the credit card companies are responsible for managing fraud, they have incentives to use good security practices. Debit card info carriers take the position of "our system is secure, so it must have been your fault".
Many people have been surprised when their bank/ATM cards (which also function as debit cards) are stolen and used fraudulently to drain their account. This is why it's always a good idea to request that your bank issue you an ATM card which cannot be also used as a debit card.
Giving, in essence, everyone a default debit card is a bad idea. Fraud would become endemic.
Interesting. In my country (Argentina) Visa explicitly requires merchants to request an ID (specifically, the DNI - Documento Nacional de Identidad), and have the customer sign, and write their name and DNI number on the credit/debit card receipt.
As a proud citizen of Montana, I am pleased to report that our state told the federal government to "shove it". In the words of our governor, "Never, no, hell no".
I'm pretty sure, while this used to be the case with more generic debit cards, todays modern Visa and Mastercard debit cards are treated just like credit cards as far as fraud and you can't loose your whole bank account in this manner.
I process cards for customers every day that have 'ask for id' in big letters on them. It is the card owner's way of making it harder for a thief to use his card.
This is far beyond any 1984 insanity.
Am I the only one that see's this as a way for Big Brother to have absolute, total power over your buying/spending abilities? The people that worried about bar codes and now RFID are probably shitty fuzzy spiders over this concept.
I'll refuse to accept this bullshit concept, period.
Cash is King.
I'm glad to see at least one other person actually realizes what's going on. The government has nothing to do with this combination license/credit card other than the fact that they provide the piece of plastic it uses. Other than their already existing civilian surveillance methods they will have no knowledge of the purchases you make.
audioLibre - freedom of music
I wouldn't worry about credit cards when worrying about identity theft. What's much more difficult to track is loan applications made in your name,
You wouldn't worry about credit cards when it comes to id theft? Hell, it's easy and getting easier to get a credit card in someone else's name. And when they do, you don't get a bill from the credit card issuer unless whoever got it used your address. However it can and will come back to haunt you.
What's much more difficult to track is loan applications made in your name, because you have to actively retrieve (and usually pay for) your credit report. It's not mailed to you on a monthly basis.
Unless an id thief gets credit cards in your name.
How many cards are you carrying around, anyway? If you have more than two or three, you've got a problem with credit. What you need:
Not neccessarily. Your FICO Score, which partially determines your credit worthiness is in part determined by what your total credit limit and what your balance is, the more credit cards you have the higher your credit limit is.
You may think you need to because of credit limits, but you're better off using a single card with a higher limit (fewer rotating credit accounts allows for a higher limit on the ones you really need).
AH I see you brought up credit limits yourself. However just because you only have one or two credit cards instead a bunch it does not mean your credit limit will be the same, it's possible it will be lower with only two cards than with 4. What matters more is how much balance you keep and how much you pay monthly, do you only pay minimum, do you pay more than that, or do you pay in full every month.
Admittedly I don't know everything about it but I know some and I'm learning more from my brother-in-law who is a Certified Financial Planner, CFP.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Thanks for pointing this out. I'm so sick of being asked for ID when I use my credit card. BTW, here's a PDF of the merchant rules - page 29 also mentions the "See ID" nonsense.
Remember: if you try to buy something with your Visa, but they won't let you because you won't show your ID, you can file a complaint against the merchant by calling (800) VISA-911. So far I've never had to make the call, just had to threaten it.
Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
I'm glad that you're being moderated interesting for your very insightful comments that are substantiated by quotes from the article:
Or how 'bout the caption of the picture:
Or a quote from a user:
How are you going to cancel your driver's license when the DMV is only open Monday through Friday 8-5?
You wouldn't need to cancel your driver's license, you would just disable your account. You wouldn't be able to get a new one until you go get a new driver's license number (do they even change those when you get a new card? if not then you wouldn't really be able to reopen your account), but then again, you don't get a new card right away either.
http://www.mastercard.com/us/wce/PDF/MERC-Entire_M anual.pdf
Check page 71 under Acceptance Procedures for Purchase Transactions where it says
************
For unique transactions processed in a face-to-face environment (with the exception of truck stop transactions and card-read transactions where a non-signature CVM is used), request personal identification of the cardholder in the form of an unexpired, official government document. Compare the signature on the personal identification with the signature on the card.
************
I didn't read the Visa Rules. I use Mastercard.
Sure, you could put a wrapper around the whole system, but that wouldn't be trivial.
And yet... this is exactly what they did! Wow!
(This story is the worst case of people needing to RTFA I've seen for a while...)
As an aside, my State of Wyoming license issued in 2005 doesn't have a magnetic stripe on the back. How many cards out there don't?