Salt Lake City To Launch Mobile Payment System 60
jitendraharlalka writes "According to The Register: 'Operator consortium Isis has selected Salt Lake City as its flagship deployment to show the rest of the USA what NFC can do for them. The plan will see Salt Lake City's public transport system accepting pay-by-wave from a mobile phone by the middle of next year. Retailers have also been encouraged to adopt Near Field Communications technology at the point of sale, as Salt Lake City strives to become The Place You Can Leave Your Wallet At Home. The Utah Transit Authority already uses proximity payment cards, deployed in 2009, so adding NFC functionality to public transport is a matter of software not hardware.'"
Hello, Americans (Score:2)
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Reverse Engineering a real-world RFID payment system: http://events.ccc.de/congress/2010/Fahrplan/events/4036.en.html [events.ccc.de] Video of the presentation (in English) [fem-net.de]
Note that that the comprised system was "MIFARE Classic", which is an extremely flawed implementation. Other systems are not necessarily such an easy target (and FeliCa is almost certainly better than MIFARE Classic).
Of course, while there are certainly better and more secure ways to implement stored-payment cards, I guess the real lesson is that the entities who choose which system/standard to use are often not very well qualified to do so...
How come (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow... a train full of marks (Score:2)
So if I write something sufficiently sophisticated, I can bill everyone I walk past for a few cents.... NIIIICE!!!
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I get news about changes in the city where I live from a British news source? Something is wrong with this...
MI5, m'lord.
Re:How come (Score:4, Interesting)
First I have heard of it as well. I suppose John Inglish wasn't making money fast enough so UTA decided to have a payment system so we can deposit money directly into his personal account. But this would explain the 25% rise in fares.
Some background on UTA and Utahs public transportation system for those that live outside of Utah:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700025866/UTA-executive-John-Inglishs-salary-is-top-among-public-transportation-executives.html [deseretnews.com]
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51490724-76/2013-base-fare-fares.html.csp [sltrib.com]
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We live in a global world now. Didn't you get the memo?
Could you explain how, exactly, this is wrong? I'm just curious to know.
PS Slashdot story links are frequently thrice-removed from original sources. Do not mistake the submitter's and editor's laziness and incompetence for anything other than what it is.
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When fairly unsophisticated thieves steal a debit or credit card the first place they usually go is a gas station and fill up all their friends cars... possibly even offering to fill up other cars for cash. I suspect grocery stores are similarly used. Its an easy way to get a small pile of useful goods out of a credit card before the owner knows its gone, and it doesn't set off alarm bells the way buying something larger would.
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Do you mean Mobil and their Speedpass?
If I remember correctly they even had one that you can glue onto your window so it activates the pump when you drive up.
I haven't seen a Shell/Texaco station with that but maybe they just weren't in my area.
Death of the Dollar coin, again? (Score:2)
Public transit made the dollar coin relevant again - take it away and the dollar coin becomes a novelty, again.
I think if something like this payment by wave thing becomes common then we can expect hacks where people are charged without even knowing it, at some point.
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Public transit made the dollar coin relevant again - take it away and the dollar coin becomes a novelty, again.
I think if something like this payment by wave thing becomes common then we can expect hacks where people are charged without even knowing it, at some point.
With all the other ways your cards can get charged with out you knowing or your consent, I think it is just part of the game. All you can really do at this point is exercise personal responsibility and check your card statements a couple times a week for fraudulent charges. The banks and the like aren't concerned about looking out for you at this level. Living in Salt Lake City though, I'm probably going to give this a try, even if it's only for novelty value.
Cool thanks! (Score:4, Insightful)
I for one cannot wait to use your phone to make my purchases.
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the battery issue is legitimate and I don't see much of a way around it, but I believe most of these systems require the user to approve the transaction before transferring money. I suspect most of them could be configured to allow some charges automatically (under 10 bucks) while others might require approval.
Ideally you could ID the vendor so that you could set it up to always pay public transit fares automatically while even a pack of gum at CVS might require you to hit a button or even enter a PIN.
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in Japan (Score:2)
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One of the reasons that stuff like Felica succeeded in Japan is that for the longest time it was a cash society (true actually for many Asian nations), and even today you'll find many establishments that are still cash-preferred/-only. The situation would be very different if credit cards had taken root earlier.
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A huge upgrade we wouldn't have to make if we had been doing it the way the Japanese have been doing it for years now.
So, basically you are saying we wouldn't have to upgrade now if we had upgraded a long time ago. Thanks for the insight.
more ways to track you (Score:2)
and for that, I would refuse it.
slippery slope that makes travel less anonymous.
I just don't like this trend. neither do I like it when they *assume* you carry a phone.
(and no, I don't.)
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You act like 'they' can't find you now. DO you get a pay check? yes? well they know where you find you. /. account? they can find you.
Have a license? taxes? friends? and
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sorry for the dbl post, but to prove a pont I spoent exactly 30 seconds to see what I can find out about you.
You used to work for AT&T
You do snmp
and you are probably Bryan Levin
I could be off base, but If I was tasked be the government to find out more accurate information, it might take me an hour.
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To me this isn't about finding out who I am. I personally don't care if you do that.
To me, it isn't even close to a privacy issue, but of the inevitable exploit of the system.
As easily as you "object lesson" TheGratefulNet, the bad guys can steal money from the unsuspecting.
SLC is the BEST place for this field test? (Score:1)
Folks love this (Score:2)
I used it there in Feb on the buses up to the ski resorts. My son works for a bank and test used a swipe phone two years ago. When people behind him in line saw it, they all asked, "Where can I get one?" Expect it will be the norm in a few years.
That system had better be bullet-proof (Score:2)
And I don't just mean that figuratively.
If one of these goes on the fritz because some drunk pounds it with a rebar he found lying on the road, it's going to strand commuters.
On the other hand, since it doesn't involve any sort of slot to insert or swipe anything, that's one less point of weakness. You can plant the NFC transceiver behind an inch of HDPE (plastic decking, e.g.) and it'll never feel a thing.
The ticket-printer slot is still going to be there. Unless the ticket is also electronic and someone
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Many subway/public transport systems already have swipe readers, such as TAP in los angeles. It just requires carrying around a special TAP card and opening a TAP account rather than being able to use your phone and an independent billing method. Most stops have automated payment kiosks only and no one gets stranded, they just aren't very attractive vandalism targets and there are a lot of CCTV cameras at the stops.
Leave your wallet at home... (Score:1)
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What ever could go wrong?
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Yeah, not a very good idea. If I leave my wallet at home and replace it with my phone, that means I have to load all my credit card info, my drivers license, my various id's, my voter registration, and my BestBuy reward zone card, which was just compromised anyhow.
What ever could go wrong?
Who carries their voter registration around with them? Everywhere I've lived, you only need something on Election Day, and it's generally just a driver license.
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Pronouncing PYCLYWAH (Score:2)
Pihk-lee-wah?
Pie-klie-wah?
I prefer the first choice.
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With every such system I know of, payment-via-phone is an option, and you can just use a stored-charge contactless smartcard instead.
I actually have a phone I can use to pay for the train, but I just use a card instead because it's anonymous (the cards can be recharged easily at a ticket machine, or a new one obtained from a machine for a ¥500 deposit) and it's easier to grab the card from my pocket than fish out my phone...
I wouldn't trust them with my money (Score:2)
Takes pick-pocketing to a new level (Score:1)
*sigh...* (Score:1)