Who Pays For Credit Card Breaches?

PetManimal writes "A scheme to steal customers' credit and debit card information at a New England supermarket chain highlights a little-understood fact about credit card security: Customers still think that the credit-card companies have to eat fraudulent charges, but since the PCI DSS standards were adopted, it's actually the merchant banks and merchants who have to pay up. And, according to the blogger writing in the latter article, it's a good thing." "The main reason PCI exists is that there are tens of thousands of merchants who don't understand the basics of information security and weren't even taking the very minimum steps to secure their networks and the credit card information they stored... PCI pushes that burden downstream and forces merchants to... put in a properly configured firewall, encrypt sensitive information and maintain a minimum security stance or be fined by their merchant banks... [T]he credit card companies have taken the bulk of the financial burden off of themselves and placed it on the merchants, which is where much of it belongs...'"

PCI?

[AikonMGB]

And here I thought they implemented PCI to make it easier to attach peripherals to your computer O_o I can't keep up with the world today.

Re:The customer pays. Always.

[Anonymous Coward]

So, if the merchant loses a lot of money to credit card fraud, how do you think he recovers the money? By selling his penis on ebay?

Wait ... you mean, there's another way?

STOP THAT AUCTION!

Re:Should improve Customer service

[ednopantz]

What, and miss out on the educational aspect of firing a customer?

*******

"Waaah! I want [totally unreasonable thing]."

Sorry.

"Waaah! If you don't give in, I'll take my valuable [read easily replaced] business elsewhere."

Good, go.

"Waaah! I want to speak to the manager."

I'm the owner.

"Waaah! But I'm the customer, and the customer is always right."

No. The customer is often wrong. And you are not our customer anymore. Go away.

"Wah! But...but...but..."

Get out now!

*******

I wouldn't feel right depriving you of the valuable attitude adjustment. Just think of it as my form of public service.