A question for the collective wisdom of LJ

[triskellian]

How does one authorise credit card transactions in the US - is it signature or PIN? If it's PIN, and you don't know the relevant number, does that render the card useless, or is there a way around it?

And while I'm posting, happy birthday to the five million people on my flist who have birthdays today! (That's undyingking, kesstrel and marnameow, I think. And happy birthday killalla for yesterday. Edit: and condign and cuthbertcross! Wow, that's a big clump o'birthdays ;-)

Comments

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

The smartcard is the Chip out of Chip and PIN (the gold square on the left, with the horizontal lines), but we had (older, less smart, but identical to the naked eye) smartcards on many credit and debit cards long before Chip and PIN was introduced. They were read by ATMs, but not by ordinary point of sale card readers.

Anyhow, Triskellian's concerns about needing Chip and PIN in America are probably unfounded if most or many Americans have never even heard of it...

This Mobil doohickey sounds a bit suspect, security-wise, but to me the important question is, does the person who chooses the security mechanism assume the risk? If so, then it's not something to get worried about, because that person just has to be sensible. If not, and if they are as easy to abuse as it sounds, then whoever does assume the risk should be getting cross.

So the question to ask is, "if my doohickey is stolen and used, does that still cost me money or do I just report it missing and the money is paid back?" If the answer is "it costs you money", customers shouldn't get them (unless you can set a low limit on how much money can be spent on it. Then it might be OK, no worse than losing a bit of cash), but if the answer is "you're covered", then in practice it's none of our business how secure the thing is. This page is doing its best to imply that the risk is assumed by Mobil and/or your credit card provider, without actually commiting to saying that. So I'd want to know the details before getting one myself.

For my comments about French toll booths, I was guessing that credit card owners are covered. And in theory, in the UK, we're covered against someone using a credit card without signature or PIN, at a petrol pump or elsewhere.