It's kind of weird to have to wear a Faraday cage just to not get pickpocketed. I bet card technology, roughly unchanged in the last 30 years, soon gets an update.

Offtopic———

Although MasterCard and Visa will no longer accept payments to WikiLeaks, the KKK, to cite just one egregious example, can receive payment on its website via these companies even though donors have to state they're "white and not of racially mixed descent" and "not married to a non-white. . . and do not date nonwhites."

Crid - how many deaths have the KKK taken credit for in the past 50 years? Assange has taken credit for a slaughter in central Africa as a result of one of his leaks.

I hate to cut into Amy's booming Amazon business, but there are less expensive ways to eliminate an RFID chip...

Problem with hammer method of eliminating chip: Gregg's credit card didn't work to buy Métro tickets in Paris because it was one of the older ones without an RFID chip.

Crid: Like Brian says... who really gives a damn about the KKK?

It's not 1920. It's not even 1956. The KKK is no more a "threat" than the American Nazi Party.

(Also, the one KKK "donation site" I can find - and the one that people are linking to to "prove" how Visa is EVIL - seems to be some loser's site doing "sales" of "donations" (ie, pretending to be eCommerce).

But the core of the issue appears to be revealed here - it's claimed [by PayPal] that the US Government declared Wikileaks activities illegal formally, and thus donations got shut down.

The KKK, while a bunch of complete asshats, aren't actually engaged in illegal activity these days.

That would be the difference, I imagine, and if one doesn't like it, one should complain to the US Govenrment, not Visa or MasterCard or PayPal.

Because the US Government is the one with the guns and the monopoly on force and the undeniable willingness to use them, as well as other means, to enforce its will on actors ... like Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal.)

And that said, every one of the thuggish bastards in Anonymous should be horsewhipped through the streets.

Mob rule is even worse than the thing they imagine they're fighting; in an awesome twist of irony, they're showing less respect for due process and free speech than their opponents.

Crid: Like Brian says... who really gives a damn about the KKK?

It's not 1920. It's not even 1956. The KKK is no more a "threat" than the American Nazi Party.

(Also, the one KKK "donation site" I can find - and the one that people are linking to to "prove" how Visa is EVIL - seems to be some loser's site doing "sales" of "donations" (ie, pretending to be eCommerce).

But the core of the issue appears to be revealed here - it's claimed [by PayPal] that the US Government declared Wikileaks activities illegal formally, and thus donations got shut down.

The KKK, while a bunch of complete asshats, aren't actually engaged in illegal activity these days.

That would be the difference, I imagine, and if one doesn't like it, one should complain to the US Govenrment, not Visa or MasterCard or PayPal.

Because the US Government is the one with the guns and the monopoly on force and the undeniable willingness to use them, as well as other means, to enforce its will on actors ... like Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal.)

And that said, every one of the thuggish bastards in Anonymous should be horsewhipped through the streets.

Mob rule is even worse than the thing they imagine they're fighting; in an awesome twist of irony, they're showing less respect for due process and free speech than their opponents.

(Seemed to not commit; if this doubleposts, mea culpa.)

Crid: Like Brian says... who really gives a damn about the KKK?

It's not 1920. It's not even 1956. The KKK is no more a "threat" than the American Nazi Party.

(Also, the one KKK "donation site" I can find - and the one that people are linking to to "prove" how Visa is EVIL - seems to be some loser's site doing "sales" of "donations" (ie, pretending to be eCommerce).

But the core of the issue appears to be revealed here - it's claimed [by PayPal] that the US Government declared Wikileaks activities illegal formally, and thus donations got shut down.

The KKK, while a bunch of complete asshats, aren't actually engaged in illegal activity these days.

That would be the difference, I imagine, and if one doesn't like it, one should complain to the US Govenrment, not Visa or MasterCard or PayPal.

Because the US Government is the one with the guns and the monopoly on force and the undeniable willingness to use them, as well as other means, to enforce its will on actors ... like Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal.)

And that said, every one of the thuggish bastards in Anonymous should be horsewhipped through the streets.

Mob rule is even worse than the thing they imagine they're fighting; in an awesome twist of irony, they're showing less respect for due process and free speech than their opponents.

(Seemed to not commit; if this doubleposts, mea culpa.)

Credit cards are going to have to evolve towards one-time pads, or something similar.

> - how many deaths have the KKK
> taken credit for

Who says 'taking credit for deaths' is the standard for anything?

> The KKK is no more a "threat" than
> the American Nazi Party.

Why the quotation marks around "threat"? Who are you quoting?

I didn't say they were a threat. But then, I'm a white guy... Why would I?

All of the people who say that government secrets are trivial things, not worth worrying about, ought to explain their believes to Assange and Manning.

I've had problems with credit cards exactly twice in my life. Once, the gas station was hacked. We were issued new cards and never had an issue.

The second time, I believe but cannot prove, somebody working at Citi set us up. We were issued new cards (never had a problem with the old ones which had not expired) and were hit with fraudulent charges from Canada immediately after the new account number was activated.

BTW, they do not understand customer service, or English. After four months of round and round with their fraud prevention clowns and rude customer disservice dolts, we're done. They will never see any business from me.

The old fashioned fraud is far more likely - your fancy cover won't help when the waiter steals your number.

The old fashioned fraud is far more likely - your fancy cover won't help when the waiter steals your number.

Or the drone in the IT department dumps the transaction log to a fraudster website.

Even better-- make your own Faraday Wallet with this easy how-to from Wired:

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Make_a_Faraday_Cage_Wallet

All it takes is a few minutes, some aluminum foil, some duct tape. Easy peasy!