A Missouri lawmaker has proven he just doesn’t get how this new fangled mobile payments stuff works by introducing a measure that would require identification each time a customer uses a payments service like Apple Pay on their smartphone or tablet.
FOX 2 Now, via MacDailyNews:
Democratic Rep. Joshua Peters of St. Louis says the bill he introduced Wednesday requires customers to show a state driver’s license or other identification when they use a mobile wallet app or other electronic payment system.
Peters says his measure will prevent fraud if the mobile device is lost or stolen. Under the measure, merchants would be required to record the license or identification number, or they could be held responsible for the illegal purchases made with a stolen device.
We’d like to offer Rep. Peters a little bit of advice: “That’s not how this works! That’s not how ANY of this works!”
If Mr. Peters had just taken the time to check Apple’s Apple Pay Security and Privacy Overview, he’d have found that Apple Pay already has fantastic security built-in. It’s called a fingerprint!
Anyone using Apple Pay on their iPhone is required to place their finger on the Touch ID sensor on the device in order to complete the charge! Plus they need to have a passcode set for their iPhone!
“To help ensure the security of Apple Pay, you must have a passcode set on your device and, optionally, Touch ID when you use Apple Pay. On your iPhone, you can use a simple four-digit passcode, or you can set a more complex passcode for even greater security.”
While it is possible that other mobile payment systems could be gamed by a crook, who may be able to pull off an illegal charge or two using a registered device, this is simply not an issue with Apple Pay!
On top of the fingerprint security layer, iPhone users can simply lock their lost or stolen device via Find My iPhone, making it useless to a bad guy looking to run up illegal credit charges.
Being required to pull out a piece of ID every time we make a charge via Apple Pay takes us right back to the stone ages of using a regular charge card again!
Damn Josh! (May I call you Josh?) Read the easily available information before you attempt to get your name on the news with the introduction of an ill-advised piece of legislation! Wow! Just… Wow!
Come on Rep. Peters, your Wikipedia page says were born in 1987. A young, hip dude like you should understand how all these mobile electronic doodads work. Just take some time to check into things before presenting new regulations. That’s all we’re asking.
