T.J. Maxx parent says customer data stolen

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Why do retailers even have this information?

I'm sure this has been suggested many times before but the current system of providing your account number to every retailer you purchase something from makes no sense. Accidents like this are built into the system.

Instead, they should design a system so that the consumer carries a (very small) device that uses a private key to encrypt the current timestamp along with the amount of the purchase. An account number would be provided in the clear, but this wouldn't be sufficient to authorize a charge. Then, the vendor would transmit the whole packet (clear + encrypted) back through the visa/mc (etc) system for both instant verification and eventual billing. Visa/MC would hold the other key in the pair in their own DB, and therefore would be able to determine if a charge was legit.

I know this wouldn't be cheap to make the change, but the system we are using was designed for an age of paper forms and carbon copies. An improved system would protect both consumers and honest merchants.

Posted by: enduser_z   Posted on: 01/18/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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