| Should I destroy the RFID and just use the | magnetic swipe? |
I would and do. With my last card I asked for non-RFID and they refused to issue it, so I found the chip and drilled it out with a very small bit.
Some chips can be found because there's a small bump. Some can be seen through light cards. If you can't find it you may need to order an extra card so you'll have one to shave away looking for the chip, thus telling you where to drill.
Another convenient thing is software to check the chip, to make sure you killed it. I looked around and found that no one sells readers, but then I discovered there's a free Android app that can do it. A friend has an Android phone. I downloaded the free app and held the card under the phone to show the chip ID number. I then drilled out the card and checked again to make sure it was "dead".
We've been using the "chip card" up here in Canada for quite some time already. An RF shield wallet prevents a mobile RFID reader from reading the chip (high-tech pick-pockets)
Cannot disable the chip. Chip is secured by a password code. It can be used without cade (tap and go) for purchases up to $50 if I remember correctly. A lot of places cannot or will not scan the magnetic stripe any more.
I wouldn't. Come this October, retailers will be responsible for any fradulent transactions caused by use of the mag stripe on an EMV ("chip") card. Because the retailers will not take on that risk, they will honer the flag encoded on the mag stripe that indicates the card is an EMV card, which means you won't be able to use it.
| I wouldn't. Come this October, retailers will be responsible for any fradulent | transactions caused by use of the mag stripe on an EMV ("chip") card. Because | the retailers will not take on that risk, they will honer the flag encoded on | the mag stripe that indicates the card is an EMV card, which means you won't be | able to use it.
That's possible. They are trying to switch over. If it happens I'll worry about it then. In the meantime, I have 4 cards and only one is (was) chipped. And not all of them are due to expire before October.
It's also not clear to me exactly how that works. The October rule may make a merchant responsible if they don't have a chip reader. That's not the same thing as having a chip reader but the card having a dead chip.
The chip cards in Europe are at least backed up by also requiring a PIN number. That's apparently not going to happen in the US. If I eventually have to accept the chip I'll keep the cards in a fold of aluminum flashing, which I already have in my wallet. I'm trying to phase out use of credit cards, anyway. But I'm also concerned not only with potential security problems but with the increasing use of tracking. Over time, chip cards could end up being used like cookies online, cellphones, or EasyPass on highways -- as a way to track people.
| We've been using the "chip card" up here in Canada for quite some | time already. An RF shield wallet prevents a mobile RFID reader from | reading the chip (high-tech pick-pockets) |
The problem with that is that someone walking by, or standing next in line, during a transaction could conceivably read the chip while you have it out.
The chip cards in Canada are all chip-pin. If the US banks do any different they are more foolish than I even thought. They HAVE to be chip and pin to work with the Interac banking system. (world wide interbank system)
ALL chip cards have a PIN number - but foolishly some US banks (US Bank being one) are not implementing the PIN security on their cards and banking system. If you ask your bank to have the PIN enabled, your american bank cards will work world-wide in chip and pin terminals, and will still work, without the PIN, in USA
Most banks will be issuing new EMV cards between now and October regardless of the current non-EMV card expiration date.
Yes, it is. When Walmart turned on their EMV card readers last year, they started by honoring the mag stripe flag for those cards that were EMV and rejected use of the EMV card mag stripe. Because people were not familiar with how an EMV card worked, they temporarily changed their terminals to allow either mag strip or EMV. Come October, that dual use will no longer be permitted by Walmart or any other retailer. If anyone could bypass the EMV protection by damaging the chip in an attempt to force use of the mag stripe, what would the point be of switching to EMV?
EMV cards can be programmed for multiple verification types (Online PIN, Offline PIN, Signature or None - None being used for low value transactions like a fast food restuarant.) Some card issuers will not issue a PIN right away, but the card can be reprogrammed remotely at a later date. Other issuers will issue a PIN, but still leave the card programmed to prefer signature.
Because US card users are so used to thinking PIN = Debit, Signature = Credit, most US card issuers have decided to initially program EMV cards as Signature. The only change to the user experience is that the card gets placed in a slot instead of swiped.
Once people in the US are familiar with how PIN based verification for credit cards work, the cards will be reprogrammed to prefer PIN.
You are confusing EMV ("Chip") cards with RFID ("Radio") cards. They are not the same thing. Most RFID cards are also chip cards, but very few chip cards are RFID.
The RFID chip in RFID cards can only be ready from a few inches away. It's the same chip and technology found in millions of employee badges around the world. If there was a problem with remote survelliance of RFID card holders, you would have heard about it already.
But as I said - very few EMV cards have the RFID feature.
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