[Gllug] OT - chip & pin

[Martyn Drake]

On 3 Apr 2006, at 10:55, Alain Williams wrote:

> On Friday I filled up my car at Tesco.
> When it came to pay they would not let me put my card into the  
> chip'n'pin machine
> that had the numeric keypad attached, instead they put it into  
> their till keyboard
> & then asked me to enter my number onto the numeric keypad.

Sainsburys do this as well - they don't actually put the card into  
the keypad reader - it gets swiped via the reader at the side of the  
till.

> I refused to do this on the grounds that the chip'n'pin machine was  
> validated,
> having my pin go over some cable that went where I knew not and  
> then to my
> card was not secure since it is possible that the pin could have  
> been read through
> a tampered cable or something. There was much 'this is what  
> personnel says that I
> must do' from the tesco employee - I paid cash & left saying that I  
> would not buy
> anything from tesco again.

Oh dear.

> Was I being paranoid ?

I just think the chip and pin idea is bloody silly as it stands.  As  
an owner of an American Express card which does not yet have Chip and  
Pin and will not have until it's replaced sometime in 2008, I'm more  
annoyed that retailers may turn down my card because it isn't chip  
and pin.

Regards,

	Martyn
-- 
Martyn Drake
martyn at drake.org.uk
http://www.drake.org.uk



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