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A comment on Why You Still Can’t Use a Chip Card Everywhere.

Re:Why You Still Can’t Use a Chip Card Everywhere by iamleppert on Monday July 25, 2016 @05:57AM (#12157564)
The chip & pin system, at least technically, is a disgrace. It easily takes 2-3x the amount of time a swipe would take, and most merchants still make me enter my PIN as well as sign. The chip readers are prone to malfunction, and I'm sure they will be cracked in due time.

What's worse is you can still do a transaction without a PIN, leaving open the opportunity of someone just stealing your card. The only fraud this really prevents right now is copied cards.

It's crazy to me the payments industry can get away with charging $500 for these card readers too. Most chip readers I've seen still have to dial up to charge a card.

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Re:Why You Still Can’t Use a Chip Card Everywhere by Symbiote on Monday July 25, 2016 @06:10AM (#12157612)
> The chip & pin system

I think you mean the American Chip+PIN system, as implemented. In most other countries, a PIN is required.

I've used Chip+PIN cards since they were launched in the UK in 2004. Malfunctioning readers are very rare, and the suggested flaws don't seem to have resulted in anything.

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Re:Why You Still Can’t Use a Chip Card Everywhere by seszett on Monday July 25, 2016 @06:17AM (#12157653)
> It easily takes 2-3x the amount of time a swipe would take

I don't know, unless the terminal has a bad connection it usually takes less time than writing a signature, even in online mode.

> The chip readers are prone to malfunction, and I'm sure they will be cracked in due time.

The technology has been in wide use for decades in Europe. I'm pretty sure the existing chip readers aren't very prone to malfunction, unless for some reason the US is completely redeveloping everything from scratch.

Also, they haven't been cracked yet as far as I know.

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Re:Why You Still Can’t Use a Chip Card Everywhere by choko on Monday July 25, 2016 @09:08AM (#12158367)
For what it's worth, most transactions don't require a signature. They only time I've had to sign when using my debit card is when the transaction is in the 100s (not sure of the exact amount).
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