Stephen Meredith

North Yorkshire

Marketing & PR Authentication Technology

How many more of these stories are we going to hear about before someone starts to take online authentication seriously? The problem is that the e-tailers are protected from the consequences of fraud by the banks and the banks factor the losses into their overall cost base so the incentives to do anything about it are not there. In the end the customer is the one left with the hassle and problem of sorting new cards and credit facilities. Even the new Chip & PIN technology - the banks' panacea for identity theft - is not the answer for online shopping. Unless all the stakeholders in the e-conomy take this much more seriously and come up with a permanent solution that works, there is little prospect of it ever been universally adopted as genuine alternative to a trip to the nearest shopping centre.