Scary or smart? You decide....

Could this scenario actually happen? .....( take a look only 2 mins)

I have a friend who works in online identity. He is focusing on making buying and doing business online easy and safe. The key issue here is to do that but also to only release the minimum amount of information needed. Here's his take on it:

When you make a chip and PIN purchase in a store, the online financial transaction uses equipment that connects your card directly to the bank. The merchant never gets to see any of your financial information. This has resulted in a massive reduction in card fraud. However so called “card not present” (CNP) transactions, typical of the online world, rely on the merchant passing your credit card details to the bank. Reported CNP fraud amounted to £183m last year. Windows CardSpace works the way chip and PIN works in a store. As this technology becomes more widespread in the online world, we will see CNP fraud reduce dramatically, just the same as chip and PIN reduced fraud. With CardSpace’s protection of our digital identities in online transactions, we can restore confidence in the world of online transactions and reduce consumer’s fears concerning identity theft. 

Seems the Infocard stuff is gathering momentum - good old Jack Schofield has been musing today in Technology Guardian.

Should hopefully, finally, persuade my mum that its ok to buy online.