A friend was in Scandinavia earlier this year and he just input a phony PIN when he had no choice, the agent simply wouldn't sell him a train ticket. To his utter amazement, the system took his card (forgot whether it was a MC or a Visa). His comment to me was, "What security? if a phony PIN would work, where is this big talk of "Added Security"?"

Also see Post 47 about experience in Japan - a fake PIN of 0000 got the job done at JR station also.

So this PIN thing has a very easy way to get around it - so much for the Added Security - probably that is what is really behind the scene reason WHY Visa and MC have been resisting the change in US!