The 'wave' of the future (New Contactless Credit Cards-Bad Idea?)

[RamboLiberal]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/19/news/economy/express_pay/index.htm?cnn=yes

Tired of swiping your credit card over and over because the magnetic strip is worn? Help is on the way: cards that you wave, rather than swipe.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (Research), the nation's largest credit-card issuer, said Thursday it will issue a new credit card with so-called "blink" technology that can be waved in front of a special reader, as well as being swiped through a traditional terminal.

The nation's No. 2 bank said it will start rolling out the cards this summer and reissue new "blink" cards to existing customers.

<snip>

Last February, CNN/Money reported that some industry watchers were skeptical about "contactless" cards, saying that they would raise security and privacy concerns.

[liberal N proud]

1. As you walk past the cashier, they simply tap your account

and clean it out.
Just what I want to see!

[Turbineguy]

18. I want one of those thingies

installed at the end of my driveway. I wonder if I can program it to charge only repubs as they drive by?

[htuttle]

2. Could you sneak up behind someone, and wave a reader at their wallet?

That would be interesting.

Kind of like picking your pocket, but without having to remove your wallet first...

[dkofos]

12. YES

[Massacure]

13. It uses a light to read it though.

That red light bar thingy wouldn't be able to go through your pants and wallet.

[BronxBoy]

14. Why Not?

There are plenty of security systems that use access cards that are read by a red light thingy. I always kept them in my wallet (so I wouldn't forget them)

I would just slap my ass against the card reader and Voila! the doors would open.

Is there any difference?

[Massacure]

15. It really reads it through your pants???

[Javaman]

16. Heck yeah, I do the same exact thing with my work security pass.

This is why the smart chip idea for the new passports was such a failure.
Anyone with a scanner could have read all of your personal info up to 30 feet away!

[Massacure]

17. i knew you could sweep radio wave devices, but not light ones.

It must broadcast in some spectrum besides visible red light then if it can read it through that much cloth. I never realized that.

[BronxBoy]

19. Hell Yeah!! n/t

[wallwriter]

3. Really. How long before

SOmeone on the subway can pick your pocket electronically?

[cprise]

4. Silly rabbit, tinfoil is for wallets

...not heads!

[Dora]

5. Stay away! These are SO HACKABLE!!!!

I read a sidebar in our most recent copy of Consumer Reports about the newest trend in hacking. (I don't have online access so I cannot snip it here for you.) But I'll condense it as I recall it.

It focused on the "fastpass" that many people are using to purchase their gas these days. Apparently you just wave it at the gas pump and it charges your gas co. credit account. How convenient!

BUT!

Consumer Reports discovered that:
1) if an Evil Hacker is within a certain range of you, say 5-10 feet, and
2) Evil Hacker has a laptop computer running on a wireless network, say Starbucks, for example, where
3) Joe Doe is sitting at a table calmly sipping his Wild Cherry Lattidatti, and his keys are sitting on the table or dangling out of his pants pocket, with a Fastpass attached... then
4) Evil Hacker sits at a table neighboring Joe Doe's, and pulls out his computer and gets to work hacking his way into Joe Doe's gas account...
5) Later that afternoon, using the same wireless technology, he stops at the Exxon/Mobil on the corner, uses his laptop to "fastpass" the gas, then pumps and runs.

It's a laugh riot, I tell you. x(

(on edit: to literally delete overused "literally")

[Paranoid_Portlander]

6. If Evil Hacker is that clever...

... it might be easier for him to earn an honest living, considering the effort involved.

[okieinpain]

8. use to think the same thing until I went to work. after listening to the

bullshit coming out of the company talking heads. I understand the hackers reasoning for stealing.

[okieinpain]

7. why would he need a laptop, how about one of them there pocket

pc's.....

[Gormy Cuss]

9. Oooh, try proving fraud happened

This will be so cool. Your pocket picked electronically. This is why we need REAL ID, preferably with embedded RFID capability. That way the mall cop can prove you were standing right at the spot and at exactly the time you claim you didn't buy anything but your card was used for purchase.

:sarcasm:

[mtnester]

10. I see lead futures becoming a popular investment

As a victim of identity theft (multiple times...once you get burned once and they do not catch the criminal, it happens over and over every couple of years) I have SERIOUS reservations about this. SERIOUS.

I am by no means a technophobe, I use and abuse technology every day (systems manager) but common sense says:

1. If you are on a wireless router at home, password the dang thing cause some asshole will steal your bandwidth and hack your computer

2. Never open an attachment unless you are expecting it, even if you THINK someone you know sends it

3. No one from Uganda really wants to give me 10,000,000.00 for helping them restore their families good credit.

4. No, My Pay Pal account does NOT have anything wrong with it, I will NOT click here to address the issue.

5. If the Pentagon computer can be hacked, so can my "blink technology" credit card, and probably a thousand times easier.

I hate when corporations do not have the common sense to understand when they are about to put their customers in jeopardy.

[displacedtexan]

11. I love my CitGo gas thingy!

You guys are scaring me!

Donning my tinfoil Stetson...

[all.of.me]

20. all the more reason to just be a cash girl, like me

no credit cards, and the debit card stays at home