Your Cell Phone is so Money

[Mercedes Benzene]

Forgot your wallet? You’ll need a better excuse than that for passing on the check. By next year, you’ll be able to pay simply by swiping your cellphone a few inches from a cash register, with a new wireless standard called Near Field Communication. An NFC chip in your phone will send your credit-card number—stored on your phone or on the chip—by way of short-distance radio waves. An electronic reader at the checkout will decode the number and ring up your purchase....

 

More at Popular Science

[cwes99_03]

Ok, does anybody see a problem with this?

 

In a world where millions of identities are stolen each year, why would you put your credit information out for the world to see. It is like walking around with a big sign on your chest that says my name is Dumbie and here is my credit card number. And what is to stop some hacker from adapting their phone to have your credit information.

 

If this article is serious then I'm aghast.

[Mercedes Benzene]

First, you should read the whole article...

...then, you should google NFC.

All of the issues you mentioned are addressed.

 

Cheers.:shrug:

[InfiniteNow]

This concept has been in the works for years, and will likely come about in some form or fashion...

 

Ever been to the gas station and waved your "Speedpass" in front of the Exxon/Mobile rape machine? Pretty similar technology, except with the the phone you can use it anywhere.

 

Of course there will security issues, just as there are with credit cards now, but they will handle these as they arise. Perhaps something as simple as a passcode authorization, or a text message to said phone asking for confirmation of purchase would work. I dunno, but there is no reason to prevent it because there "may" be some fringe element who will take advantage.

 

There are always problems with new technology. Half the fun is trying to solve them.

[Racoon]

I'm pretty sure they already have this in Europe.

 

Point to the Pop Machine, push a cell phone button, and there you go!

 

:shrug:

 

Technology. ain't it great?

[cwes99_03]

I've read the entire article on the site posted under the blurb. It doesn't say anything about securing the new wireless communication.

I've read a couple of other articles. Here's what I've gathered they've got going in the security area.

1) this is near field (the devices have to be within about 10 cm of each other), this is of course not fool proof for two reasons. One only needs to set up a reader within a radius of the approved reader/transmitter of the store and they will capture all traffic all day long. Easily done, after all these are the same guys who place fake fronts on ATM machines to steal your card data as you insert it. This reader could be hidden behind a magazine in a rack and catch your stuff as you walk bye.

2) The technology has already been in use. This is weak as well since it has seen limited use. If it were to become as widespread as the 200million cell phone users in the US alone, then there would be a whole lot more people looking to steal it.

3) they talk about biometrics securing the device. This isn't the issue. All that does is protect you from leaving your phone at a gas station and having someone else swipe it and begin to use it. Granted this is more secure than say leaving your credit card at a gas station where anyone can go on a shopping spree with it (since most stores don't even check the signature.)

4) SmartMX is the only security sandisk is talking about to protect the wireless part of the device. So far as I can see this is not secure really at all considering that the addressing is linear and the programming is done in C (which any college computer programmer learns first year) and it is backwards compatible with their old WE standard which is undoubtedly less secure.

 

This is just another way to part you from your money in that you'll have to keep purchasing new equipment more often, more things to break on your cell-phone, and more things they want you to think you can't do without. People are so gullible.

What is so hard about swiping a credit card?

[Tormod]

I'm pretty sure they already have this in Europe.

 

Point to the Pop Machine, push a cell phone button, and there you go!

 

:shrug:

 

Technology. ain't it great?

 

Yeah, it was implemented but didn't really take off here in Norway (yes, even to the point of buying from vending machines).

 

However, I can buy CDs, movies and pay for pizza via my cellphone already.

 

It's getting better as more vendors are offering this kind of service.

 

One slight problem is that my employer foots my cell phone bill, so I can't really use for anything like this. :eek2:

[Tormod]

What is so hard about swiping a credit card?

 

I'm not disagreeing with your comments, but there are indeed times when a cell phone is easier (and more secure) than a credit card. For example when you're dying of thirst and want to buy a soda can for $1 from a vending machine. It would probably not be worht it for the vendor to install a swipe reader on the machine, however, it's easy for them to have a centralized payment system via SMS and an ID for the machine you want to buy from.

 

Having to drag out your credit card at an event with a lot of people, like a sports event or a concert, is also a security risk. I'd rather pay with a couple of clicks on my cell phone than use my CC and have to sign or whatever.

 

Also, the fees for CC use are quite horrible here in Norway.

[cwes99_03]

I don't doubt some of the convenience factors, but I'm seriously dubious of the security issue.

I guess things are really different here in the states. I'm never dying of thirst so much that I can't find a public fountain or a convenience store. Plus I pay no fees on my CC.

 

BTW, anyone seen my wallet? ;) Oh well must have left it at home.

[InfiniteNow]

Actually, the owner of the vending machine company would need to pay a fee as well.

 

Basically, any time you use your credit card at the store the store gets charged a fee for the credit card transaction by their bank. So that's another possible issue that can be circumvented with cell phone purchases.

 

The issue above is so big that it's actually prompted Wal-Mart to create their own bank so they can avoid the charges that are applied to each credit card transaction (since, while the fee is nominal, when you multiply it by the millions transacted each day, it adds up to a huge sum of money).

 

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Betterbanking/P109171.asp

[cwes99_03]

Yes comparable to going over to a VOIP system within your business, you cut out the overhead. Wouldn't these cell-companies still be charging fees for transactions (and most likely wouldn't they charge both sides, the user a service fee of 10 cents per transaction and the store a similar amount). I think you already pointed that out infinite.

[Pangolin]

Yeah, but can it get me a date? I heard something about Japanese cell phones incorperating social networking schemes that inform the user when somebody with common interests is within range.