" For both types (smart cards):
- cost and hassle of getting cards
- hassle of guarding cards from pickpockets and burglars
- hassle of making sure you always have your card when and where you need
it
- hassle involved when you inevitably lose your card
This is arrayed against a plain password which can be handled easily by any
software system that can do console IO. And for which the user can
chose the level of security, from post-it note to memorization."
Julian, for the average consumer there is no doubt you are correct. For a
business or bank moving thousands or millions of dollars, the risk of loss
is definitely worth the hassle of getting the smart card.
For the retail merchant the cumulative loss due to credit card fraud (the
merchant eats it) may well be worth the hassle of convincing his customers
to go through the hassle of getting smart cards and readers. This can be
done by offering them a discount or reward, or giving away cards and
readers. People will go to amazing hassle to get "free" stuff!
Hushmail has done a brilliant job of making sophisticated encryption
invisible and simple to use for the end user. Of course, Hushmail doesn't
solve the particular problem we are talking about (keyboard sniffers) BUT
they have shown that encryption can be made popular by embedding it in user
friendly software.
Due to the fact that e-gold is a small fish in the financial pond, most of
the fraud is presently involving credit cards. However, as e-gold increases
in popularity, fraud will become more common. I suspect that one the hassle
from the fraud reaches a certain threshhold, e-gold will upgrade to a more
secure system.
HK
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