W3C Sets Up Web Payments Standards Group To Improve Check-Out Security

campuscodi writes to note that the World Wide Web Consortium has launched a Working Group to help streamline the online "check-out" process and make payment by internet easier and more secure. The proposed standards will support a wide array of existing and future payment methods, including debit, credit, mobile payment systems, escrow, and Bitcoin and other distributed ledger technologies. The group estimates that the new payments API will reach browsers by the end of 2017. For more details, you can consult the Web Payments Working Group Charter, and the group's wiki FAQ page.

Comments

Fix the real problem

[CastrTroy]

I say that we should fix the real problem. The real problem is that I have to give my credit card number, or debit card number, or bank routing information to the store that I want to make a purchase from. I would much prefer to have a system, more like PayPal, where I can authorize a payment to an online store and not give them any information that would allow them to access my account to create further payments.

As soon as I submit my credit card number to a store, there's any number of things that could go wrong after that time that would cause my account to become compromised. Doubly so for things like debit cards or account routing information that would cause me to lose money from my actual account.

I'm not saying that PayPal should take over. However, there should be a standard way to make a one-time payment from any financial institution and it should work similarly to PayPal in that the money gets transferred to the seller without giving them any information that could be used to make another transaction that isn't verified by me.