Re:Card.io - fast and easy mobile credit card scanning
by bonzoesc on Friday June 24, 2011 @01:35PM
(#2693060)
Magnetic credit card readers are cheap; look at how much Square charges.
The fraud prevention mechanism for magnetic cards is mostly reactive and doesn't require "passphrases" or "cryptographically signing," which is a big usability win.
Since issuers are on the hook for unauthorized charges, and generally make money from transaction fees, it's in their best interest to find a good compromise between fraud protection and usability. Adding consumer software and a wide variety of commoditized portable computing devices into the mix doesn't seem worth the cost.
Also, how would a phone lead to more fraud? You could authorize each transaction by cryptographically signing it after entering a passphrase. With a credit card anyone that steals your numbers can charge to it.