Worried about sending your credit card information over
the 'net? Here's some food for thought...
Excerpted from Edupage, 20 February 1996
CREDIT CARD SCARE TACTICS
Sending your credit card information over the Internet is really
no big deal, says Simson Garfinkel, author of a book on Pretty
Good Privacy encryption software.
"The whole thing about encryption over the Internet is that it's
not to protect the customer -- it's to protect the credit-card
companies. By law, if there is no signature, the customer is
liable for nothing. If there's a signature, they're liable for
$50. The reason the credit-card companies want cryptography is
to limit their own liability. It has nothing to do with protecting
the consumer."
And although Netscape Navigator sends a stern message each time
a user attempts to send information over the Web, Garfinkel labels
the warning just another scare tactic:
"Netscape Navigator is printing those messages because they're
trying to sell encrypted servers. It's an ad. It doesn't look
like an ad, but it is."
- (Tampa Tribune 19 Feb 96) -
I'd add to this, by noting that it is far easier to get your credit
card number by rummaging through the trash, opening the mail that
sits in your mailbox, or tapping your phone line than it is to pick
it out from the billions of packets flowing through the 'net.
Additionally, the Consumer Credit Protection Act (USA only, as far
as I know) limits your liability to a maximum of $50 in the event
that your credit card number is used fraudulantly.
So, relax.
