In the U.S., there are fairly stringent laws protecting credit card users. Users typically are liable for a maximum of $50 in fraudulent charges, and often they aren't liable for anything. Credit card companies are quick to investigate when a user reports a problem with a charge.
U.S. cellular companies, however, are much more difficult when dealing with fraudulent charges. In fact, there are many instances of problems with the cellular companies themselves issuing inaccurate monthly invoices.
However, mobile payments hasn't taken off in the U.S. There are many trials, but it's still a very early market. That's why cellular operators -- in conjunction with banks/credit card companies -- are extremely concerned about security and fradulent charges.
It is definitely in the cellular operators' interest to convince the public that using mobile payments is at least as secure from fraud as using a credit card.
While it's possible that mobile payment fraud could be committed, the cellular industry will be proactive in offering consumer protections.
In the United States, when a credit card charge is disputed by the customer the card issuer or the merchant is responsible for proving the validity of the charge. This caused credit card issuers, tranaction processors and merchants to improve security.
In the UK (and Europe), the customer is responsible for proving the invalidity of the charge when disputing a transaction on a credit or debit card, and as a result there has been very little effort there on the part of banks and transaction processors to secure their systems because in almost every case it's no skin off their nose if the customer gets cheated.
Phone companies have been notorious for decades in declaring that the customer should have unlimited liability for charges on their bill and for denying any means to limit exposure. When you had a hardline telephone, if someone tapped your line and inserted a phone on the line and ran up hundreds or thousands of dollars in long distance calls, even if it was in some other building because your circuit was on an old cable that ran through other buildings, and you didn't know about it, the phone company was still of the opinion that you're still liable for the charges. If someone got your telephone calling card number and ran off hundreds or thousands of dollars in fraudulent calls, the phone company was of the opinion that you're liable for it. Back when cell phones were analog, if someone cloned your cell phone's ESN/IMEI serial numbers and distributed them to a dozen people who ran thousands of dollars in fraudulent cell phone calls, the cellular carrier's opinion would be that it's your responsibility. Until someone got the bright idea to develop flat rate cellular service, there was no way to set a limit on the number of minutes your account used, if your phone or account with 2-4 phones ran 5,000 minutes in one month you'd be liable for the $2,000 in charges, there was no way for them to set a limit.
Until phone companies are held to be responsible for unauthorized charges they will do nothing to make sure those unauthorized charges are reduced or less likely. It's only when they have "skin in the game" and have to take responsibility for lax security that they will do anything at all to improve security.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
Social media has been with us for a decade -- but employer policies and the law are anything but firm about the most appropriate usage of this powerful tool.
Businesses often struggle to decide which domain to use. When it comes to purchasing a domain name, you have plenty of extensions to choose from, ranging from .com and .net, to .me, and even .mobi. But which one should you pick?
I've been writing about how the next evolution of the Internet might just be an advertising revolution, and how corporate IT can stay involved as the enablers and providers of the technologies that make this possible.
In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
