Carol singers rejoice at pay-by-tap credit card donations Carol singers in Covent Garden aren't taking cash donations this morning - instead they're accepting tap-to-pay credit cards, but by a lucky coincidence BarclayCard has staff handing them out nearby. The winter warblers are from the London Community Gospel Choir, and the donated money will go to the Help a Capital Child fund, …
or drilled it out or something similar, right?
Here in Australia at least (and probably in the UK if it hasn't already) the banks and credit card companies have already gotten wise to this move.
My card has one of those damnable NFC chips on it, because I don't have the choice - it's either that or cash, which, thanks to deregulation, the banks now charge everyone $2 every time we use an ATM, specifically to discourage people from withdrawing cash. So you can either fork out $2 every time you visit a hole in the wall, which very quickly adds up if you're only pulling out a small amount each time, or you can withdraw a huge amount of cash to save repeated $2 fees, and risk being robbed. The system really is geared to push you to use your card all the time.
So I tried wrecking the chip on my card, but then I found that if the store you're buying from has NFC ability on their EFTPOS machines, THE FUCKING THINGS WON'T ACCEPT THE CARD FROM A MAGNETIC SWIPE.
That's right, if your card is "flagged" as an NFC capable card, the machine tells you to use the NFC device instead of swiping the magnetic strip and *refuses the transaction* otherwise. Only if the store doesn't have an NFC reader will it accept the magnetic strip swipe. And those stores are getting to be few and far between, as local businesses "upgrade" their systems.
Which means that destroying the NFC chip now renders your card unusable in a majority of locations.
It's just one more example of how our corporate overlords FORCE the uptake of these new technologies, by simply removing any other choice from the system. Who needs guns to people's heads when you can simply lock them out in the cold if they refuse to comply?
I had to wait two weeks while I waited for the new card I requested from my bank to arrive, to replace the one I 'accidentally' damaged the chip on.
The next item I purchased was a lead-lined wallet.
The NFC chip was incorporated into the chip & PIN chip, so I used a spot-face cutter, a magnifying glass and a very powerful laboratory light source to locate and break the aerial wires.
It's only my credit card for online use (for the protections built-in and I chose one with an online fraud guarantee), so I don't need it to work in a shop as I'm never going to use it there. I would certainly like to have the choice of what technologies my card uses!
More people coming to my house with a seven second burst of:
"We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
... And a happy new year.
Good tidings we bring,
To you and your KING,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
... And a happy new year."
They don't even bother to learn the words. Now my excuse of not having any money on me isn't going to work.
can't these modern 'pretend' religious lot get their act together and have their own 'Christian' festival some time soon. Oh no I forgot, their made-up baby birthday story is just that, twoddle, so they had to hijack a perfectly good (science-based) reason to celebrate the winter solstice which folk hereabouts have been enjoying for thousands of years longer than their made-up mumbo-jumbo.
Had to be said <rant over>
Can't wait till some folk are asked to just put their cards through this 'ere swippery contraption - cos the wiretap (sorry witless) connection to Barclay's is down - ooo thanks, now we cloned your card too!
These newfangled rfid chips in cards , apparently you just wave it a machine and for purchases under a tenner, or whatever , the transaction is done.
So people are all up in arms saying "How do i know when crims are RFIDing tenners out of my wallet?" And quite rightly so.
So i have 2 questions
1) What the fuck is the point? How does it save either party any time, effort or money?
(The time it takes to push four buttons for your PIN is insignificant)
2) Can I drill a hole in the chip on my card to disable it and still use the mag strip as normal?
ok 3 questions..
3) Have there been any reported cases of crims abusing this new "Feature" ?
1.) How does it save time?
Chip and PIN: Time to insert card in (after waiting for prompt to insert card), wait for few seconds for reader to prompt for PIN, enter PIN, wait for reader to continue with transaction, wait for "Remove Card", and then remove card.
Contactless: Wait for prompt. Tap card (can still be in wallet if only 1 contactless payment card present).
2.) Destroy chip and just use magstripe?
Since the vast majority payment card fraud involves the use of magstripe data, I'm at a loss for words that anyone would be so.. so.. well, bonkers, as to want to remove the security features of a card (i.e. the bits which can't be cloned), and revert to the easiest and most cloneable magstripe!
ok AC , if thats your real name ,
answer 2) i refer you to my question 3 . theres more mag strip crime thats cos its been around for 25 years longer . If rfid is more secure with some realtime challenge/response or whatever then fair enough , but i cant see how if just have to wave your wallet around.
answer 1 is what i dont understand - obviously all the authentication and data reading and stuff has to go on either way - wether its done wirelessly or by swiping
So why not keep that extra layer of security - i.e why , after waving your wallet at the machine can we not spend 1.5 seconds banging in a 4 digit PIN?
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