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Why Some People Put These Credit Cards In the Microwave
From: "Richard M. Smith" <rms () bsf-llc com>
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 07:58:39 -0400
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114463085998921417.html?mod=todays_us_page_o ne Why Some People Put These Credit Cards In the Microwave Mr. Walker Took a Hammer To His New MasterCard -- To Stop the Radio Waves By SUSAN WARREN April 10, 2006; Page A1 When Brenden Walker got his new MasterCard PayPass ATM card in the mail last month, he headed to the gas station to try it out. To test the card's "Tap N Go" convenience, he passed it in front of the scanner, which activated with a beep and displayed the word "authorizing..." on its LCD screen. That was quite enough for Mr. Walker. Without completing the transaction, he put the card down on the pavement and took a hammer to it. "I gave it a couple of good whacks," he says. The PayPass card, which contains an embedded radio chip, had worked perfectly. Other companies have their own versions: Exxon (SpeedPass), American Express (ExpressPay) and Visa (Contactless and Blink). In each case, the cards use an embedded electronic chip with miniature antenna. When activated by a scanner, the chip transmits the user's account information via radio signals. In just the wave of a hand, the purchase amount is automatically drawn from an account. But Mr. Walker, a 37-year-old software engineer in Canton, Ohio, is one of a growing number of computer and technology experts who are becoming anxious about possible abuses of the technology. Mr. Walker fears that thieves will be able to eavesdrop on the radio transmission and buy gas at his expense. He also figures that he himself could walk past the pump and accidentally pay for somebody else's gas, though the card companies say he would have to get within two inches of the scanner to accomplish that feat. In any event, he wants no part of it. Hammering the card destroyed the chip. "I tried it again and...nothing," he says. "I might as well have been holding up a salami sandwich." As the chips become more widespread, other militants are seeking them out and destroying them. And a little industry is springing up on the Internet to pitch an array of devices meant to protect consumers from abuses of the technology, called radio frequency identification, or RFID. One example: wallets with metal shields built in that block radio signals. ...
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Current thread:
- Why Some People Put These Credit Cards In the Microwave Richard M. Smith (Apr 10)
- RE: Why Some People Put These Credit Cards In the Microwave Larry Seltzer (Apr 10)