FW: your financial transactions posting (fwd)

[Light Ray <fricke@roboben.engr.ucdavis.edu>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 00:02:50 -0800
From: Bud Aaron <bud@checkmaster.com>
To: "'privacy@ftc.gov'" <privacy@ftc.gov>
Cc: "'hwg-business@daft.com'" <hwg-business@daft.com>
Subject: FW: your financial transactions posting


----------
From:  Greg Metcalfe[SMTP:biosphere@proaxis.com]
Sent:  Thursday, December 28, 1995 9:35 PM
To:  bud@checkmaster.com
Subject:  your financial transactions posting

Bud,

I've seen some well thought out messages in the commercial transactions
listserver, but you are the first that I've seen with real numbers.  Would
you do us all a favor and make sure that you get some of this information to
the privacy@ftc.gov discussion?  I hope I'm not impertinent for asking.  But
numbers are probably our only hope.  The gov has never really been into
quantitative thinking...

TIA
---
Greg Metcalfe                         |  The secret is getting
E-mail biosphere@proaxis.com          |      enough sleep.
URL http://www.proaxis.com/~biosphere |        Usually.  

The following is a copy of the information mentioned above:

The following article is quoted directly from Bank Technology News

"Are Internet Security Fears Unfounded?
Just how safe is the Internet? Pretty darn safe, according to
Forrester Research, Inc., Cambridge, MA. Forrester predicts
Internet fraud will occur far less frequently than current rates
of fraud with cellular telephones, toll calls and credit cards
(see chart).
Cellular telephone fraud costs the phone industry almost $20
per $1000 in revenue, Forrester says, and toll-call fraud eats
up $16 per $1000 in revenue. Meanwhile, credit-card fraud cost
MasterCard almost $1.50 per $1000 in revenue in 1993. In
contrast, Forrester says companies can expect to lose only
$1 per $1000 of transactions on the Internet. 
Forrester's contentions on the safety of the Internet are backed
up by some of the judges in this year's Best of the Newest bank
technology survey. While many of the judges expressed concern
over security issues, quite a few were also confident that the
Internet will become a stalwart transaction system. See page one
for further analysis of all the newest banking technologies."

The chart accompanying this article shows the fraud levels in
graphic form.

You folks keep making drafts as a collection system seem more
and more attractive. The fact that drafts MUST be deposited (not
just cashed) and that the bank is going to want to know the
depositor quite well means that tracking is excellent. The
requirement added by the FTC that those whose accounts are
being drafted must be notified by mail makes the system even
safer.

Let me add this - some level of security is obviously needed but
regardless of the level of security, fraud will occur. All of these
arguments for high levels of security remind me of the need for
virus protection. Yes, virus attacks are real but virus protection
vendors certainly make money by raising greater fear than may
be realistic.

Bud Aaron
bud@checkmaster.com
http://www.checkmaster.com/internetchecks/



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