About eight years ago the banks looked at the new world of e-commerce and were horrified at the possibilities for fraud. Visa and MasterCard came up with SET (Secure Electronic Transactions). The idea was that our banks would all issue us with certificates and we would digitally sign every credit card transaction that we made on-line. Huge amounts of money were poured into this and a whole industry created.
- Certificates were going to be put on the chip on our bank card.
- All computers would be made with built-in smart card readers.
- All the e-commerce software was going to be enhanced to support SET.
- Venture capitalists funded software companies by the dozen.
- A web site was set up (it is gone now http://www.setco.org)
- Bankers would tell me that it was ‘definitely going to happen’.
At that time cards didn’t have chips in them and PCs didn’t have card readers. So it was all completely impractical of course. I said so at the time.
Have things changed?
I think they have. In the first place cards do have chips in them. And although PCs don’t have card readers, they all have a USB port now. So why not include a wireless proximity gizmo in the credit card (like your Oyster card) and distribute a USB receiver to customers. The receiver would be pretty cheap to make an so the customer would just have to wave the card at the PC to transfer information to it.
Chip and Pin security for ecommerce transactions. It would save banks and merchants lost of dough.
Bob Browning's blog 
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