Re: The BORG
>>How many more compromises of retail transactions will there be for which resistance is futile?
I dare say resistance is futile for all of them. There is literally nothing a consumer can do to adequately protect their information if they are conducting business using anything other than actual cash.
Fortunately consumers, generally, only experience mild inconvenience by being forced to update auto payment systems with the latest credit card details once or twice a year. (you likely detect some sarcasm in my use of "fortunately") However in some cases, when consumers pay with a card directly tied to their bank account (debit card) they might have to go inside their bank in order to contest the charges. My wife recently had to do that when someone decided to go on a shopping spree in a country she's never been to.
That said, what really gets me mad is that the dollar amounts for the settlements are incredibly low. $0.25 per lost card info? At that rate big box retailers can simply continue doing business like they are now and just build in a $0.25/transaction fee as a fixed cost. If you want real change then these amounts need to be bumped up to something reasonable like $10 per card per offense and escalate from there.