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Credit/debit card circuit closer

Doesn't work if you are not holding it and glows when it is being read
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As described in the Jscotty's Credit/Debit Card Decoy™ idea [link], credit/debit cards with RFID technology being read remotely without your knowledge is a security concern. To avoid your card being read without your knowledge, 2 security features should be added. One would be that the RFID chip's circuit would not be closed unless you were holding the bottom right corner. By holding that corner, the RFID's circuit would be closed and the card could be read. This could be achieved either by pressure or using the finger's conductivity. The second feature would be for the card, or one area of the card to glow when it is being read, making you aware of the fact.
PauloSargaco, Jan 20 2013

Most people, it seems, would prefer to authenticate their credit cards with thumbprints http://www.informat...prints-to/227900056
[DrCurry, Jan 21 2013]

[link]






       The push-button is a good idea. With luck, a pair of interdigitated gold contacts would be enough - they'd use conductivity through skin to operate, rather than needing a button as such. Not so sure about the glow - you'd either need an onboard battery, or else the reader would have to supply power inductively.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 20 2013
  

       Related note: about a year ago I got an Amex Blue Sky card, and it had a very visible RFID chip imbedded in the plastic. I just got a new card and noticed that the RFID chip is gone. Maybe they did that for security reasons or maybe it was to save money, but I have never used the RFID feature anyway.
DIYMatt, Jan 20 2013
  

       I think the push button would be doable. I doubt that conductivity through skin would be doable without power.   

       Skin conductivity varies wildly.   

       Maybe detecting skin via capacitive changes would be feasible.
Kansan101, Jan 20 2013
  

       //I doubt that conductivity through skin would be doable with power. //   

       I disagree. There are plenty of device families with very, very low input currents. Skin conductivity would be more than enough to pull such an input high (or low).
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 20 2013
  

       The idea sounds like a good improvement to the security of RFID. I agree with [MaxwellBuchanan] about the conductivity sensing, but I might suggest the two contact be on opposite sides of the card. That way a build-up of dirt/oil, or placing it on a conductive object is less likely to leave it activated.   

       I wouldn't want presure or capacitive activation since those would be too easy to accidently activate inside a wallet.   

       Of course, if I have to go to the bother to pull it out of my wallet far enough to touch or pinch the corner, it's not that much more bother to stick it in the card reader. I like this idea for other RFID applications, but I'd rather have a wired connection to a smart card or a wireless system through a smart phone that can have more sophisticated security.
scad mientist, Jan 21 2013
  

       Make it a little more sophisticated, and you could ensure that it is the owner's thumb activating the card.
DrCurry, Jan 21 2013
  

       I wouldn't worry about security so much anyway. The credit card industry certainly does not.   

       Today, any waiter at any restaurant can easily write down your credit card number and mail order to their hearts content, sending to an abandoned house.   

       Card companies just make up for it by eating the loss and making the money back in interest rates.
Kansan101, Jan 22 2013
  

       [K101] yes, it's a sad and dangerous world we live on. So, let's just get rid of those easy to read numbers and add my features anyway :-)
PauloSargaco, Jan 22 2013
  

       [DrCurry], I think these are two separate issues. One is if the card should be readable at all times or only with user intervention (that's what I'm proposing). The second is the user authentication method. I would also prefer to have fingerprint authorization instead of the PIN. I think that the signature process is laughable.
PauloSargaco, Jan 22 2013
  

       Most people don't do so, I think. Most people are findable online pretty easily, if they have an even slightly unusual name.   

       Good reason to name your kid John Smith.
Kansan101, Jan 22 2013
  

       21 quest, your supposed to open it upright. (I own one too)
Brian the Painter, Jan 23 2013
  

       hold it down low, look it in the clasp, and open. lol I don't use cash so I like it.
Brian the Painter, Jan 23 2013
  

       And it doesn't flex in your pocket when you sit on it
Brian the Painter, Jan 23 2013
  

       I have a duct tape wallet, and all the pockets are lined with aluminum foil between the inner and outer pieces of duct tape. The foil does the same thing as alumawallets in terms of RFID reader blockage, and it's flexible! And I used my uncle's hydro-dip tank to put a picture of a fennec fox on it! :3
matzo3, Jan 24 2013
  
      
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