Australian banks continue to refuse to provide basic consumer protections in relation to NFC-based payment. They have a choice of ways of doing so, but falsely declare to all and sundry that Visa and MasterCard dictate that they have to do what they do. Some countries' banks, on the other hand, have implemented sensible schemes.
There are guides available on how to drill through the card in order to break the coil and prevent the undesired wireless mechanism working. The trick is to do so without harming the (highly desirable) contact-based functionality - which still requires, as it should, that the card-holder demonstrate that they know the PIN associated with the card. It's also important to avoid damaging the mag stripe and the hologram. And it's best if the hole is unnoticeable, so that merchants don't perceive a need to steal a card because it's been tampered with and/or its wireless capability isn't functioning. So the hole needs to be small, and precisely targeted at a point where the coil can be cut without any other aspect of the card being damaged. Has anyone seen any reliable information about the precise location of the induction coil on the cards being imposed on Australian card-holders? And is there is a single card-layout in use, or more than one? The location can be found using an x-ray machine, or perhaps with very strong light. But the job has doubtless already been done by someone. Needless to say, this posting is not a suggestion that people remove unwanted functionality from the cards they have issued to them, but rather part of my ongoing research into the matter: http://www.rogerclarke.com/EC/CPS-12.html -- Roger Clarke http://www.rogerclarke.com/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 6916 http://about.me/roger.clarke mailto:[email protected] http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law University of N.S.W. Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
