Gavin, I think you misunderstand the legal situation here. People can write articles on (pratically) anything they choose -- it is only illegal to carry out, or to write with the intention to carry out, the actions.
Hence, web pages on how to make bombs, how to cheat in tests, how to copy passports and how to clean up murder trails are not illegal according to UK law (unless it can be proved the author did those things, obviously).
Obviously it's matter of YOUR personal judgment as to whether you feel something like that should be publicised on a forum or not, but I'd urge you to allow free speech to prevail. The continued censorship on TV Forum was half the reason why people appreciate the chance to talk freely on Metropol. I could at this point choose to make a facetious remark about robotic moderators but I won't; instead, I will simply remind you of that fact that if people really wanted to find out, they could easily search via Google.
Speaking of which, has anyone noticed that Chip and Pin cards are no really very strict on the "pin" part? Cashiers have the discretion not to process the pin and many supermarkets (including Tesco and Sainsbury's) have adopted such a policy at least for the short term.
Anyway, Mark, you should indeed post it to yourself to prove you had the idea first. You may think that simple ideas won't work, but this is exactly what Post-It Notes made 3C millions (billions?)!
I have an idea
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Gavin Scott
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If anyone is curious about card theft then they can, as you say, google search.cdd wrote:Gavin, I think you misunderstand the legal situation here. People can write articles on (pratically) anything they choose -- it is only illegal to carry out the actions.
Hence, web pages on how to make bombs, how to cheat in tests, how to copy passports and how to clean up murder trails are not illegal (unless it can be proved the author did those things, obviously).
Obviously it's matter of YOUR personal judgment as to whether you feel something like that should be publicised on a forum or not, but I'd urge you to allow free speech to prevail. The continued censorship on TV Forum was half the reason why people appreciate the chance to talk freely. If people really wanted to find out, they could easily search via Google.
Speaking of which, has anyone noticed that Chip and Pin cards are no really very strict on the "pin" part? Cashiers have the discretion not to process the pin and many supermarkets (including Tesco and Sainsbury's) have adopted such a policy at least for the short term.
I did not intend to imply there was a legal consequence to publishing the information, but I am keen not to see retailers be hit by losses due to an obvious flaw in the chip and pin system. It was indeed a personal choice on my part.
The pin system was intended to be mandatory from February this year, however many retailers bypass it (at their own risk) precicely because of the lack of information. Many card holders are unaware that they have been issued a pin; as in the case of credit cards a pin was only used to withdraw money from cashpoints. This information is probably tucked away in a letter they got when the card was issued.
In light of the millions saved by card issuers, a campaign should have been launched to explain how customers can get hold of a pin if they think they don't have one.
Instead we got the delightful voice of Patrick Stewart telling us that everything woud be secure, with little or no explanation how.
Yes -- also countless people forget their pin, hence the slackness of the system. I'm sure it'll tighten up when people become more used to it. It's like the new card pension scheme -- I see countless old ladies bewildered by it in the post office.Gavin Scott wrote:In light of the millions saved by card issuers, a campaign should have been launched to explain how customers can get hold of a pin if they think they don't have one.
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alowerevil
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I feel that, unfortunately, the stupidity of the general public will mean Chip and PIN will never be truly 'secure'.
A few of examples of situations that regularly occur at the store I work at:
a) Customer says numbers out loud to themselves as they enter it on the keypad.
b) Customer asks a member of their family with them to enter the PIN for them ("I've not got my reading glasses with me" etc) - showing that they willingly give their PIN out to someone else, which kind of defeats the whole point of it.
c) Customer has PIN number written down on piece of paper next to card in wallet and/or carries the original letter from the bank telling them the PIN number.
'Secure' indeed!
A few of examples of situations that regularly occur at the store I work at:
a) Customer says numbers out loud to themselves as they enter it on the keypad.
b) Customer asks a member of their family with them to enter the PIN for them ("I've not got my reading glasses with me" etc) - showing that they willingly give their PIN out to someone else, which kind of defeats the whole point of it.
c) Customer has PIN number written down on piece of paper next to card in wallet and/or carries the original letter from the bank telling them the PIN number.
'Secure' indeed!
Thats not fully true. There is what is called the Postal Acceptance Rule - its a really basic piece of law (can't remember the statute cases which refer back to it) that states that a contract is formed from the second that it is placed in the postbox. (note that there is no postal rejection rule). Therefore when you do the postal thingy - it is acceptable. You could maybe place it in a bank safe if you were really that paranoid on them questioning the legitamacy of it.Aston wrote: Apparently the recorded mail thing doesn't stand up any more. You *could* simply post yourself an empty, unstuck envelope and then pop in whatever you wanted at a later date.