Re: credit card conventional wisdom

[Simon Spero <ses@tipper.oit.unc.edu>]

On Tue, 14 Nov 1995, Rich Salz wrote:

> >There is in fact a distinction between "card present" and "card not present"
> >transactions. AMEX cards for example have an extra group of four digits which 
> >are not part of the embossed card number. They are used as additional 
> >verification to prove that a card is present.
> 
> So the run-it-through-the-mechanical-device is treated as card not present?

No. What Phil is saying is that the magnetic strip contains an extra 
group of digits which are only available when the stripe is read, and not 
when the card is used for CNP. 

I can't confirm or deny this, as despite my new bosses, I still find it 
hard to care about credit card readers (mostly because US banks won't 
let me have any). 

Simon