Originally Posted by Sopwith

1. The notion that the credit card companies are "protecting the consumer" is utter crap. They demonstrably have no interest in protecting anyone but themselves. They realize they can't backcharge the consumer for fraudulent transactions because the backlash would result in a massive loss of confidence in credit cards, and the loss of revenue would be huge. So the next most logical fall guy is the merchant. However, being from Canada, all my cards have had chip and pin technology for years, so fraudulent use of cards by unauthorized people is relatively uncommon. In any event, it's not my problem, and it doesn't justify indiscriminate demands for photo ID.