I worked for a company that specialized in smart card devices and was present while some of the technical and political discussions took place. The implementation, at that time at least, was up to the credit card company but the potential is this (read potential means this may or may not be the route your CC company chose):
A smartcard could secure your credit card number so that only the banks ever see it plaintext. That means you never see it, the merchant and his punk waiter never see it. If they get clever and intercept the transmission, they'll see encrypted traffic - it behaves very similarly to SSL. The PIN is an authorization to allow the transaction to occurr, and interestingly the entering of the PIN# becomes one of the hardest security parts to lock down. I even saw prototype smartcards with little keypads right on them!
Having worked with the technology, I have FAR more faith in a (proper) smartcard-secured credit card transaction than a normal one. Imagine being able to go to po-dunk computer supplier.com and not have to give him your CC # to make a purchase? It's a good thing.
Any creature, male or female who operates or is directly influenced in decision and/or action by an electronic terminal device is deemed hereby as a 'Computer User'. Computer Users are a unique and special feature of the economy and society whose concept was invented to streamline commerce and advance thinking [so as to invent better money making ideas]. This concept has proven to be a great success over the past 40 years and we have quiety, in good faith, let this concept mature into a healthy reality. Now that it can sustain itself, we have elected to retroactively enforce this patent. Nobody is excluded. Examples of eligible 'Computer Users':
- Grandpa checking his email to find the best sources of crack
- Mom looking up recipes for raisin pudding
- Dog stepping on nintendo controller and barking when he accidently kicks Yoshi's ass at Mario Kart
- Little Johnny browsing pornography
All said individuals must in good faith deliver 50% of their annual income. Non-IT, unemployed, or non-human individuals qualify for a 5% discount.:)
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I worked for a company that specialized in smart card devices and was present while some of the technical and political discussions took place. The implementation, at that time at least, was up to the credit card company but the potential is this (read potential means this may or may not be the route your CC company chose):
A smartcard could secure your credit card number so that only the banks ever see it plaintext. That means you never see it, the merchant and his punk waiter never see it. If they get clever and intercept the transmission, they'll see encrypted traffic - it behaves very similarly to SSL. The PIN is an authorization to allow the transaction to occurr, and interestingly the entering of the PIN# becomes one of the hardest security parts to lock down. I even saw prototype smartcards with little keypads right on them!
Having worked with the technology, I have FAR more faith in a (proper) smartcard-secured credit card transaction than a normal one. Imagine being able to go to po-dunk computer supplier.com and not have to give him your CC # to make a purchase? It's a good thing.
Any creature, male or female who operates or is directly influenced in decision and/or action by an electronic terminal device is deemed hereby as a 'Computer User'. Computer Users are a unique and special feature of the economy and society whose concept was invented to streamline commerce and advance thinking [so as to invent better money making ideas]. This concept has proven to be a great success over the past 40 years and we have quiety, in good faith, let this concept mature into a healthy reality. Now that it can sustain itself, we have elected to retroactively enforce this patent. Nobody is excluded. Examples of eligible 'Computer Users': - Grandpa checking his email to find the best sources of crack - Mom looking up recipes for raisin pudding - Dog stepping on nintendo controller and barking when he accidently kicks Yoshi's ass at Mario Kart - Little Johnny browsing pornography All said individuals must in good faith deliver 50% of their annual income. Non-IT, unemployed, or non-human individuals qualify for a 5% discount. :)