Why Blockbuster looks at your ID.

[John Levine]

>Why does the clerk at Blockbuster want to see your driver's license?
>Because his management has been told, by their bank, that if they do
>not attempt to verify the identity of credit card users they will
>risk their business relationship with the bank.

It's been my impression that the way you're supposed to verify the ID
of a credit card user is by checking the signature.  I've heard of
banks telling businesses not to demand separate ID.  On the other
hand, I can easily believe that Blockbuster came up with the ID idea
all by themselves.

>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,

I was in England last week where I noticed that the banks are
switching all UK credit cards to chip+pin technology.  We'll see.  For
that matter, French cards have all been chip+pin for years.  Any idea
what their fraud rates are like?  The French card machines will do
magstripe with a signature, but it's mostly us foreigners who need it.

R's,
John


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