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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I’ve not heard much about this, but then again, I’ve
only begun researching the issue. I have an additional comment that I’d
like to submit to the group for criticism. I know a lot of people that play
online poker, some of whom are also cognizant of the dangers inherent to
ecommerce. All but the very greenest of rookies tend to employ the following
strategy: go to a local pharmacy and purchase a “pay as you go”
credit card (currently offered only by VISA and MC if I’m not mistaken). When
they get ready to connect to the poker site and ante up, they simply transfer funds
from their “real” account or credit card into the “pay as you
go” card…in a matter of minutes, even this amount is “spoken
for” as they immediately use the card to increase their balance on the
poker site. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The one drawback is that the “pay as you go”
cards are $10 a piece to buy, but for people seriously worried about the threat
from data exposure, I don’t see how this is any great sacrifice. And the
intervening step of calling to make the transfer is sort of inconvenient,
especially for people that make frequent purchases from many different sites. This
is no panacea, to be sure…to publicize this as a method by which to
thwart cybercriminals would be quite costly and difficult. Moreover, I
have the impression that the credit card companies would be against this because
it would begin to undercut their primary avenue of profit (i.e. interest).
Heaven forbid people only spend what they have in their accounts at the moment.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Either way, except for the cost of “educating”
the public on the potential utility of this solution, I don’t see many
drawbacks. And what drawbacks do exist are still not as serious as the
situation is today.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Thoughts?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Eli Jellenc</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Sr. Threat Analyst</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>iDefense (<a href="http://www.idefense.com">www.idefense.com</a>)--
A VeriSign Company</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>703-390-9456</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a href="mailto:ejellenc@idefense.com">ejellenc@idefense.com</a>
</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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