h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

>> I didn't really expect it to be honest.<< I hope you just forgot a comma in there.

Yup - I remember Greydesk.

I wonder whatever happened to him and what he's doing now. Or even if he is doing anything now. He disappeared from that other website some years ago, I think around the time he said goodbye here. He seemed to have his finger on the pulse of several things internet-related, and he sent me invites to some of them, which is why I got in so early on one or two that are huge now.

My abiding memory of him is a journal describing how he'd put off doing the dishes for so long he was "eating a curry out of a pyrex casserole dish-lid using a carving fork and salad spoon" because that's all he had left in the kitchen that wasn't waiting to be washed up Well, that and his annual whinge about the London to Brighton bike race. And his many posts about cheese. And car crashes. And holes in various parts of his body where there shouldn't be holes.

Sigh

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2015/01/05/375164839/u-s-credit-cards-tackle-fraud-with-embedded-chips-but-no-pins
U.S. Credit Cards Tackle Fraud With Embedded Chips, But No PINs

It's called 'chip and pin' for a reason, American banks Don't you get it? And don't you get that there are people who *will* look at higher security (a PIN) as a selling point and choose that bank?

Good grief.

It's all worthless if the retailers don't have the proper chip readers. And most of them don't.

I'm very curious about this "new generation of credit cards coming that won't use numbers at all, not even account numbers."

How will they work, and more importantly, how long until they're rolled out?

Basically, the banks are trying to avoid every bit of responsibility and cost and laying the costs on the retailers and the blame on customers. I find little credence in their claim that customers won't or don't want to use PINs. Sure, there may be some percentage of people who will balk, but just from what I see at stores, many people are already using debit cards with PINs for grocers, hardware and every other type of shop.

It looks like I was some way off in my assertion that we'd only get chip an pin when it was already out of date. Instead, we're only getting half of it. And I too am intrigued by this new generation, but based on experience it'll be a botch job.

You're right about PINs. Anyone who has a debit card (and some credit cards too, such as the prepaid ones which can be used like a debit card as long as there's funds in them) has used a PIN. I know Americans have reputation for laziness - sometimes justified, sometimes not - but I think the banks are being criminally lazy in using that as an excuse for not rolling out the PINs.

I got the new card today, and as is always the case I had to activate it with a phone call to the card company.

With a voice menu

I hate those things so much. They sometimes can't understand what I'm saying, they try to be chatty with you ("Okay, so you want to activate a card"), and any noise picked up by the phone (including me sighing, cursing, ranting, trips a "I'm sorry, I didn't understand you" message

And a voice menu for something like a credit card activation? Really? Hardly the most secure way to do it when voice recognition software is still pretty flaky.

Depends on the bank. Some cards they make you jump through hoops like that. At least one of my cards has my phone number on file and all I have to do is call the number and *maybe* punch in my card number.

They have my phone number on file. This was one of the problems when the card was cancelled, or at least put on hold. The bank had my old phone number and that was the one the card company called me to check on the transaction they thought was dodgy. When they couldn't get a reply on that number the card was stopped, and the first I knew about it was when it was declined for a purchase.

When I got the new card today I knew I'd have to activate it, and they specify - with underlined text - that I call from my home number, so the activation line presumably matches that, with caller ID, against the card information they ask me to enter.

Now, the thing is, I know the bank has had my new phone number before, and used it, both when this happened the last time, and for sure when I activated the card that's just been replaced (which replaced an expired card), because I'd only had that one for about a year, and I haven't had that old phone number for at least four years.

And by the way, the transaction that triggered it wasn't dodgy at all - it was me buying the former Mrs Gosho's Christmas present. So the whole bloody thing was for nought

This is all very worrying. I've never been to the States, but will be going some time this year, once son and grandson are out there. I always thought that the US were very anti-cash and everything was done by card. Now I think I'll just take as much cash with me as I'm allowed and pay for everything with that. Hire car and hotel I shall book online.

Or am I not understanding something?

Everything is done by card, but you might want to do a lot by cash. Our cards, as mentioned above, are less secure as they are mostly just magnetic strip without chip & PIN. But you can still use your cards almost anywhere as there should still be a magnetic strip on your card. While they are less secure than chip & PIN, the vast majority of transactions each day are secure. A bigger issue for you might be currency exchange fees when using your card. You might be better off hitting a trusted ATM to minimize exchange and transaction fees. Take out a large amount to minimize the number of ATM transaction fees as they can run up to $5.00.

Thanks for the encouragement and the tips. I shall certainly have my card with me. If only for the hire car. Will my German driving licence be valid in the US? (Actually, my son can answer me that one)

Now I'll have to look into getting the phone to connect up while I'm there. I'll certainly need it so that I can come back to you guys!

No plans yet for going over, but these questions are cropping up in my mind already.

Check with your phone carrier. You might be able to use it here by making arrangements with your carrier. Or you might be able to simply purchase a prepaid SIM card when you get here if your phone is compatible with one of our networks. When I went to Scotland I wasn't able to use my phone so I purchased a throwaway dumb phone just for texts and local, in country calls. I was still able to use my phone at WiFi hotspots for internet and maps.

It's kind of swings and roundabouts with cards vs cash. On the one hand, the card companies usually get a better rate of exchange than you would at the bureau de change, but the card interest will probably wipe that advantage out (unless you use a debit card) so bring plenty of cash. The bureaus at the airport never give the best exchange rate and I'd usually change my sterling into dollars at one in central London which often gave better rates, but that might not be something you take advantage of where you are. Definitely don't go to one in the US outside of an airport.

Don't imagine for a moment that you'll get funny looks for pulling out the green folding stuff. Cash isn't obsolete here - I use it all the time . And if you're going to be staying in one place for a while and using the same bar or restaurant more than once you'll be astonished at how good the service can become and how many extras suddenly appear on your plate (but not on the bill) or how many free samples you might get if you pay for your food/drinks with a card, but write CASH where it says 'Tip' under the amount, and leave a good 20% in crinkle.

Oh, and you should probably get an international driving permit. You don't necessarily need one but I hear it's good to do it. I used to pick one up at the local AA shop. I think they last six months... maybe 12. And I can't remember if there's a fee, but if there is it's minimal.

And yet again my personal data has been compromised.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregorymcneal/2015/02/04/massive-data-breach-at-health-insurer-anthem-reveals-social-security-numbers-and-more/

I just heard about that one on the radio. Although frustrating, in this instance it's not so much an American problem caused by the inaction and apathy of (dis)interested parties, but more a worldwide problem caused by the way we've become so dependent on the internet. Just like robbers have always been able to break into banks, car thieves have always been able to make off with your jam jar, and safecrackers have always been able to get into safes, it's likely that hackers will always be able to get into databases. Unless quantum cryptography turns out to be all it's cracked up to be.

Yeah, it has nothing to do with card technology, but this was a recent and related thread.

As it's going I could have unlimited and free credit monitoring as so far between this, the Target breach and to some extent Home Depot, I keep getting offered one year free monitoring.

I won't be surprised when my credit union's website gets breached. They don't offer two-step authorization and worse, they limit passwords to alphanumeric only (no special characters) and a maximum length of 10 characters.

I really need to have a talk with them.