Practical Traveler For Americans, Plastic Buys Less Abroad
By MICHELLE HIGGINS The New York Times October 4, 2009
BETTER pack some cash on your next trip abroad. Americans are finding that their credit and bank cards aren't as convenient as they once were while traveling overseas.
The problem: American cards lack a special chip, now commonly used in many foreign countries, causing the cards to be rejected by some merchants and kiosks.
That's what Nancy Elkind, a lawyer from Denver, discovered in Paris when she wanted to use the popular V=E9lib' bicycle rental system on a weeklong vacation with her husband last spring. They tried to swipe various cards at the rental kiosk, which doesn't take cash, and all the cards were rejected.
Then, thinking the problem might be with the kiosk and not their cards, they tried other V=E9lib' locations around the city. But each time, their cards were not accepted.
"We gave up, and kept walking around Paris, commenting occasionally on how much fun it would be to do some exploring by bike," Ms. Elkind said.
The couple's cards, which rely on magnetic-stripe technology for transactions, lacked an embedded microprocessor chip, which stores and processes data and is now commonly used in Europe. Such chip-based cards - commonly referred to as chip-and-PIN cards because users punch in a personal identification number instead of signing for the purchase - offer an extra layer of protection against the theft of cardholder data and counterfeiting, and they are designed to replace magnetic stripe technology and signature payments.
The chip-and-PIN technology usually isn't much of an issue when making purchases at a store, or paying for a meal in a restaurant, as most of those merchants still have credit card terminals that can read the magnetic stripes. Likewise, A.T.M.'s typically recognize and accept many cards whether they have a chip or a magnetic stripe.
But American cardholders have had their cards rejected by automated ticket kiosks at train stations, gas pumps, parking garages and other places where there are no cashiers.
This is related to telecom in a way that might not be obvious: it's an indication that society has (or is about to) come full circle, and do the things necessary to *prevent* electronic commerce without authority of the person who owns the funds.
The telegraph and (of course) the telephone, were the first technical advances to allow information to travel more quickly than the paperwork associated with it: before the telegraph, the postal system was the fastest way to get an order for goods from place to place(1), and also the only commonly available alternative to messengers - but the order would, by custom, be accompanied by some kind of financial instrument which could either be verified on sight at the destination, or used as evidence of good intent in banking transactions.
Electronic commerce - it's nothing new, by the way - created entire industries dedicated to managing the risks associated with providing goods and services without paper-based financial instruments changing hands. Codes, ciphers, and passwords - also nothing new - had to be improved and made easier to use so that average men could use them effectively to assure the identity and good intent of those whom they were dealing with. When there's no way to verify the bona fides of a person who initiates a commercial transaction - such as when a credit card number and expiration date is traded on a pirate bulletin board - then the added risks of fraud must be covered by insurance, or the added costs must be born by all law-abiding users.
The information superhighway carries crooks and crazies at the same speed as civilians, and now - at least in Europe - society is putting on the brakes.
Bill Horne Moderator
1.) I leave aside Semaphore or similar systems, since they weren't commonly available and were too expensive for everyday use. The Pony Express is a special case of (very expensive) messenger service.