On the cards
Summary Description Simon Vandore looks at transaction security and the Peter Reith affair.
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Roullas Top10 Simon Vandore

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Article Topic Vandore
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Story Group 001022
Post Date 20/10/2000 06:52 AM Status Posted Entered by Simon Vandore on 19/10/2000 11:55 AM


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Introduction
Some time ago when I bicycled myself into the wild blue yonder, my father gave me his Telecard number and PIN. In post-communist eastern Europe, between running from rabid dogs and farmers with pitchforks, it was handy to be able to ring and say "hi, I'm alive" when I couldn't track down the correct change in zlotys, forints or lei.

Body
I kept the card number in my wallet and the PIN in a pannier. Unlike Paul Reith's daddy, my father (a job-seeking agribusiness guru, if you're in need of one) was footing his own phone bill, so I exercised caution. My trip was otherwise funded through writing for APC in Sydney, answering complaint letters for a loans company in wintery Glasgow, and an inheritance from my late Great Aunt Winifred in Dundee.
After reaching China over land I flew to Australia and handed back the card details, but it struck me that this Telecard business was incredibly insecure. To this day I've never even laid eyes on the original card, yet I've used it in foreign countries and it almost became a fringe benefit for Romanian gypsy muggers.
The only security measure was to record the numbers on two separate pieces of paper, but I'm sure plenty of users keep them together, relying on security through obscurity. For those unfamiliar with how a Telecard works, it's basically a means of making a call from any phone in almost any country and having it charged back to your home or work phone bill. The only requirement is that the country in question must have a toll-free operator number which can accept the card number and PIN, followed by the number you want to call.
Telephone companies must be very happy that their customers are silly enough to carry these things and share the risks with relatives. It must be a great moneyspinner when the original customer has to pay up for others' greed. Obviously, people who think they can make free calls tend to make a lot more of them than usual and Telstra has done pretty well out of the Reiths (or is that the taxpayer?).
For most people, an extra PIN is simply too much to remember in a world of automatic teller passwords, voicemail codes and ABNs. It's the sort of thing you have to write down and carry, which you'd never do with an ATM card (right?). The Prime Minister can say Peter Reith lacked judgement in giving his son access and the licence agreement may support him, but I wouldn't be surprised if Howard did the same if his kids went backpacking. Perhaps Reith's real mistake was not to apply for a new PIN afterwards.
The nature and acceptance of Telecards is another thing that makes Internet transaction security concerns sound ludicrous. Who cares if your credit card details are being encrypted with 64-bit or 1028-bit security while they travel to a cyberstore in Sweden? What about when your card travels to a restaurant cash register in the hands of a waiter? You actually lose sight of the card for a significant time, allow a copy of it to be taken for the transaction, then scrawl your acceptance of these risks.
Surveys consistently report that consumers are reluctant to transmit their credit card details online, yet they will gladly do so via Australia Post or over the phone. It's nuts! Whether it's a restaurant meal, mail-order clothes, or ordering a bunch of flowers, there are gaping holes in the whole philosophy of credit cards. The Internet should really be more of a solution than a problem -- we are well overdue for a move to smartcards and desktop readers.
Unfortunately that won't help Peter, Paul, Miss X and Mr Y (noughties supergroup?). The day you can swipe a smart Telecard in downtown Timisoara or uptown Bukittingi, I'll eat my batik shirt. Until then it's PINs and needles, telephone elbow for the phone thieves.
Postscript: Regular readers (do I have any?) may remember comments on a trend towards computer monitors appearing among garbage for roadside collection. There's another one sitting out there today in the rain. Have you ever seen anything so miserable as high technology sitting in a puddle?
Vandore appears every Friday on Newswire. You can contact Simon Vandore on svandore@acptech.net.


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Simon Vandore looks at transaction security and the Peter Reith affair.

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Vandore: On the cards

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