Why Blockbuster looks at your ID.

[Adam Fields]

On Fri, Jul 08, 2005 at 10:42:02AM -0400, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
[...]
> A system in which the credit card was replaced by a small, calculator
> style token with a smartcard style connector could effectively
> eliminate most of the in person and over the net fraud we experience,
> and thus get rid of large costs in the system and get rid of the need
> for every Tom, Dick and Harry to see your drivers license when you
> make a purchase. It would both improve personal privacy and help the
> economy by massively reducing transaction costs.

Haven't we been saying this for years?

The standard argument I hear against it is "the people who would have
to pay for the very large initial investment have no economic
incentive to do so". They obviously don't think they have a long-term
need to do so now, and in the short term, this only replaces fraud
costs (a relatively known entity) with infrastructure costs (a
completely unknown one).

I don't see it happening. This is the same industry that convinced
people it was a good idea to give out their ATM pin number to make
purchases with a debit card... for what exactly?

I think that you made the explicit point of talking about replacing
the credit card infrastructure, when what you really meant was
replacing the credit card companies with others that would make more
rational business decisions in favor of consumer security and privacy.

-- 
				- Adam

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