Dear Linkedin,

Sun Jun 10 22:40:15 UTC 2012

On Jun 10, 2012, at 12:25 PM, Joe Greco wrote:

>> The credit card companies should pull their heads out of their asses about t=
>> his.
>> 
>> It is much better from an anti-fraud perspective for a stolen card not to co=
>> ntain a specimen signature for the thief to learn to forge.
>> 
>> It is far preferable for the merchant to request ID and verify that the sign=
>> ature matches the ID _AND_ the picture in the ID matches the customer.
> 
> So, what ID do you consider to be acceptable?  Especially when traveling,
> you've just opened up a can of worms.  As a merchant, do you know what a
> Canadian driver's license is supposed to look like, for example?

From someone who supplies an out-of-country drivers license, I'd request to
see their passport. From someone who supplies an out-of-state drivers
license, I'd probably accept it, but the risks there are somewhat reduced at
least.

Mostly, I'd accept any domestic government issued photo ID and/or any
passport. Generally when someone asks for my ID, I use my passport.

> The reality is that forging signatures is not particularly easy, and since
> merchants generally don't check ANYWAYS, the whole issue is kind of
> nebulous.

Sure. However, if you provide the forger a specimen of your signature on
the card, you're just asking for trouble IMHO. If the merchant is going to go
to the trouble of checking the signature, the extra step of matching that against
ID that matches the cardholder name instead of just matching it to the back
of the card is a negligible additional inconvenience while providing an
additional layer of protection.

Owen