Will home computer keyboards soon have a credit card "slider" attached to them?

I don’t know, but that would be freakin’ sweet.

More likely to have a Chip & Pin reader I would have thought.

Can you please explain what a “Chip & Pin reader” is?

I’m ignorant about that.

@JackAdams: You could try this (though I’m not sure if the Cherry software would work with a webpage) or this (which would probably work better).

Thanks Andrew! I’ll investigate further. I hope that they are for home use.

I just put my credit card number in one of those macro app. So all I need to do is to type in vvv for my Visa number. No error there.

Oh man.. That would make it really easy to grab card data without digging through all the text off a keystroke logger. I will take a pass.

@jackadams In the UK retailers don’t swipe your card and get you to sign for your purchase. Instead you insert your card into a reader and you type in your PIN number just like you do at the ATM. The idea being that it cuts down on fraud.

I remember one time in a store, I saw printed on a card reading machine, “SWIPE CARD.”

I smiled and told the cashier, ”‘Swipe card? That’s what I did, to GET the card!”

She then asked to see my driver’s license…

No this will never happen. What is wrong with typing in your credit card number manually?

Please be careful with your use of the word, “NEVER,” as those who claimed that man would never fly, were of course correct.

Man still cannot fly.

However, their aircraft can.

@Lightlyseared – they do that here too, entering a pin is what you do with a debit card. Credit cards don’t use pins, and that is worldwide. Some businesses here don’t make you sign for a credit card payment if you’re spending under $25.00.

@Tantigirl My American Excess card has a PIN. I used it in ATMs in Sydney, in 1991.

When traveling in Alaska, I didn’t leave Nome without it.

Did you need to use the PIN when you used it to buy something directly though?

No. Just in the ATMs, to get Aussie cash.

The point of the card-swipe thing is that it’s less error-prone and faster than having retailers type in credit card numbers. Neither benefit is there for home computer users.

But perhaps they soon MIGHT be?

It’s unlikely. Retailers are given different rates for swiped versus entered credit card transactions because it decreases the incidence of fraud, and they like the credit card swipe gadgets because it saves time and prevents them having to retype the number when they make the mistake. The fraud benefit just isn’t there on the home computer—you control the computer, so you could easily fake the response from the gadget—and you might save a few seconds a day.

You’re better off memorizing your credit card numbers than you are holding your breath for a new gadget.

When I worked at a retail location as a cashier (auto parts), after EVERY swipe of the card, the display on the scanner said, “ENTER LAST 4 DIGITS.”

There was no exception to that requirement; it was a kind of double-check safeguard.

@JackAdams: I feel like instead of a swiper for your home computer, I’m almost positive that you could do the same thing with software in your browser.

AND, it could automatically fill in ALL the aspects of your form: billing address, state, phone etc. You would just have to set it up on a password if you didn’t trust people around you.

Thanks Andrew!

I’ll investigate that with a dude I know who seems to be an expert in CIS, and I’ll probably contact him ASAP by PM, YM, IM or ICQ on the QT, C?

@jack both my credit cards (Mastercard and VISA) have chip and pin. The visa card also has er wave and pay for things under £10 where you just wave your wallet with the card in at the shops reader and it pays the bill. Unfortunately I’ve only found McDonalds that accept it.

Whatever do they do at Harrod’s?

No idea. They only let tourists in.

LOL!