John, Actually, in my part of the world Citibank has a pretty good record in my opinion. I used to travel regularly to Indonesia a few years ago using a Citibank Credit Card.
Twice in an eighteen month period I was part of a mass card replacement for everyone that had used a Citibank credit card in Jakarta during a certain period because they were aware of some sort of fraud risk. This was done at no cost to me and at my convenience (as I travel a lot). It was not 3.9 million cards, but it was a bloody lot of cards replaced worldwide. I really wonder if the lost information amounts to risk of identity theft, or is it simply basic fraud risk. Every time I use my credit card I leave behind my name and account number, and that name and account number pass through many hands before it is filed away. They may have my name and my credit card number to commit credit card fraud, but they still have a lot of work to do to steal my identity in a way that I will incur a loss. Is this risk of a loss to each individual increased if this same information is on a tape as I leave behind on a piece of paper? Certainly the number of people at risk is large, but IMHO the individual risk is no greater. And perhaps we are ignoring some of the transaction profiling that has been put in place to protect against fraud (hooray for the software engineers). I am often called by credit card companies when a transaction is not within my usual spending pattern or geography - and I appreciate it. This is part of the credit card fraud systems designed to flag when a customer's activity suddenly changes. Sure it is an occasional nuisance, but it is nice to know it is there. You bet those 3.9 million credit cards will be flagged for special attention by these profiling systems. Sure it was a bad thing to happen, but suddenly requiring banks to encrypt every single thing that leaves the premises - well you can bet the shareholders will not be paying for it. If this is what customers want, then they should not grumble when the costs are passed on to them. Ron ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
