We probably should move this to funsec, but I'll bite. The basic problem is the lack of security and non-repudiation in credit cards in general, and the US in particular. Non-clonable, card-present, technologies have existed for a long time, and card readers are cheap. AMEX tried to make this free with Blue, but it wasn't adopted. So, the US banks, and AMEX, seem willing to exchange some amount of fraud, and inconvenience for a minority; in exchange for convenience and higher transaction volume for the majority. They've been enabled by the fact that HNC's software works very well. As long as those who make the profit bear the bulk of the risk, as they do with credit cards, I guess there's no issue. Given the "debit card" lack of limit of liability for the consumer, this may change.
-----Original Message----- From: Joe Abley [mailto:jabley@hopcount.ca] Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 3:07 PM To: Martin List-Petersen Cc: nanog@nanog.org Subject: Re: Netblock reassigned from Chile to US ISP...
On 2008-12-12, at 15:02, Martin List-Petersen wrote:
It's a misconception of some muppets, especially in IT related products, that forget, that a lot or IT professionals do travel all over the world and usually have a credit card in their home country.
Pure and utter nonsense.
Or perhaps the hassle of dealing with stolen US credit card numbers from clients outside the US costs far more money than you could hope to make back with the purchases of US nationals travelling overseas?
Could well be muppets, but surely there are other possibilities.
Joe