That created some additional fraud opportunities. The credit card industry is still very profitable, the debit card industry is still very profitable, but the opportunity has increased for fraud because the crooks are just as smart as the good guys. There have been efforts to shore up security. Visa came up with a Secure Electronic Transaction online security protocol in addition to the more commonplace Secure Socket Layer, but it hasn't caught on with merchants so far. Your money or your privacy As long as fraud losses trail well behind credit card volume, card issuers are unlikely to do much more than shadowbox with it, according to David Sorkin, director of the Center for Information Technology and Privacy Law at John Marshall Law School in Chicago.
Transparency is important for consumer confidence.
Right now, businesses as well as credit card issuers are really going out on a limb to push for acceptance of online transactions and promote consumer confidence. They are not really charging discount rates that reflect the increased risk yet because they want consumers to use their cards online. Merchants, on the other hand, have a very real stake in knowing a little more about who's at the other end of that online transaction. Sorkin says don't be surprised if that online vendor follows up on your next major purchase with a few additional questions. Now, in a lot of cases, you may have to supply a street address and they'll verify that, where you probably wouldn't need it for a card-present transaction.