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| January | 04 |
| 2005 |
Have you ever wondered how stupid some of your fellow countrymen and women are? The answer seems to be “very”. Here’s the evidence. It’s in the form of a small, two-part test. To begin: what’s your birthday? That might not strike you as too difficult, but the final part will surely catch you out.
In what year were you born? You don’t think it was difficult? You don’t understand how anyone could find it complicated? Plainly, you possess an altogether superior intellect.
If you successfully managed to remember the answer to both parts, you kept in your mind one number out of a possible 31, one month out of a possible 12, and one year out of a possible — to be realistic — 90 or so. Congratulations. It seems such a fiendishly complicated task is far beyond many of us. Even remembering a simple number is apparently impossible.
The papers have been full over the past few days of stories of “chaos” in shops as retailers introduce new “chip and PIN” debit and credit cards. To use them, we have to remember a four-digit PIN and then — my brain is exhausted at the mental gymnastics even thinking about it — tap the number into a keypad. Oh, the stress! Oh, the anguish! Oh, the sheer difficulty of it all!
The Forum of Private Business in Scotland says that it gave warning back in October that the new arrangements needed to be delayed to avert chaos. And a retail analyst at PA Consulting, Alastair Charatan, says that there could now be a 59 per cent increase in queueing times: “The public is confused.” (It’s the precision of his 59 per cent that I most admire about Mr Charatan’s research.)
Even the banks, which are trying to minimise the idea that there is any chaos (the new system is their idea), say that only eight out of ten consumers are up to the task. In other words, if you gather five shoppers together, there will be one who is incapable of remembering a number with four digits.
In four months’ time we are likely to have a general election. The future of the country will be decided. Are you happy to hand the choice over to people who cannot remember a number higher than 1,000? Here’s a modest proposal. To qualify to vote, ought we not first to have to enter our PIN?
MessageSpace
To qualify to vote, ought we not first to have to enter our PIN?
And to attend cabinet meetings. That should keep most of them out.
Mr. Pollard,
Haven't there been ATM payment options in checkout lines in the UK ? It sounds very similar to what has been very common for years in the US, using ATM cards or combined ATM/credit cards in many retail establishments. Its universal in supermarkets, for one thing. And ATM codes are longer than four digits.
There hasn't been a crisis of longer lines, etc. in the US.
I can remember all my pins, I just have problems remembering which one is for my credit card, which one for my debit card, which one for my current account cashcard, which one for my online banking, and which one for my online mortgage. On the other hand, I entered my date of birth at 18th November 2005 earlier...
We had chip-and-pin for years in Australia, without any problems. And while the average Brit is clearly intellectually inferior to the average Aussie, the difference isn't that great that remembering four numbers should prove a problem.
(And if you have a lot of cards, you can always use the same PIN number for all of them).
(And if you have a lot of cards, you can always use the same PIN number for all of them).
Great. Subvert one, subvert them all. A single 4 digit number is OK - but I now have 11 of them (because I once watched a party of four Americans try to persuade an airport taxi driver in Finland to take a Diners Club card at 0200 on a very cold morning) as well as the on-line banking and the passwords and passphrases for various security devices...
I'm 47. My memory (IIRC) is not what it was. I'm buggered.
jd
I think the simple truth is that we don't like change in Britain, and chip-and-pin represents change. I used chip-and-pin cards when I lived in Holland and Belgium and they never caused chaos at the checkout. And neither was there anyone peering over my shoulder so they could steal and use my card at a later date. If anything, I felt more secure with a pin card - I never felt that if I dropped it somewhere that I'd end up with a huge bill as could very possibly happen with a conventional card.
Is it possible that many people are not convinced that it will be any more secure?
This four digit system's been used in France for yonks and I always felt totally secure with it. The way the little machine is constructed, no on, unless he was resting his chin on your shoulder, could see what numbers you were keying in. And even if they could, so what?
Second, you only got three chances to key in the right number, then the machine wouldn't accept any more tries and the supermarket cashier might be backing up to the phone just behind her.
It's a far safer system than signing your name on a slip of paper, that's for sure.
People can be clever in one area and clueless in another. My late father had as his pin number the date of some battle or other in the English Civil War. "Some battle or other": that was the trouble. He would stand transfixed at cashpoints trying to remember whether it was Naseby or Marston Moor. Yet he could talk most knowledgably about the political history of that time.
And, Scott, aren't you meant to avoid having the same number for all your cards lest the baddies get hold of it and totally steal your identity?
Knowledgeably. What a word to mis-spell.
>And, Scott, aren't you meant to avoid having the same number for all your cards lest the baddies get hold of it and totally steal your identity?
You probably are supposed to avoid doing this, but it makes things easier.
If someone finds out your PIN - say by seeing you type it in in a supermarket queue - that doesn't get them very far towards stealing your identity or even your cash.
They still need to steal your card to use it at cash machine or in a shop (and of course under the old system if they stole your card they didn't even need your PIN).
To use your identity, they still need to get your card numbers and other personal details. Under the old system, getting these would be enough. Now they need your PIN as well.
I work part time in a supermarket and in my experience few people seem to have problems with chip and pin. As you rightly say, it is an extremely simple concept and the idea that people should find it confusing is ludicrous.
However, you do get the odd moron. For example, some woman the other day who not only couldn't remember her pin, she couldn't even remember the number of digits it was supposed to be. So, she entered 3 digits (didn't press enter) and just stood there looking expectant at me.
There hasn't been 'chaos', only a prediction of 'chaos' from some twit working for, wait for it...a PR company, which no doubt has a solution available, at a price. What is sad is that you failed to distinguish between actuality and a blatant attempt to whip up concern (and business) by a company looking to increase its revenue and as a consequence you used such dross to confirm your own prejudices about how stoooooopid we all are.
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