[michaelmartin]

Like other readers have said, the real step forward in this area would be chip and pin. That raises a potentially more interesting question though, how do you transfer a country the size of the US from swiping to the chip and pin?

Even here in the UK, where absolutely everywhere that uses a card is using the chip, a bank can't ditch the magnetic strip because then suddenly they're the only bank where you can't use your credit card abroad.

Would ATMs that read the chip without actually taking the card in the whole way work to obsolete these skimmers? (The chip is always at one end of it, so why does the rest of the card need to enter the machine?)

[kalleboo]

> how do you transfer a country the size of the US from swiping to the chip and pin?

Well most of the rest of the world transferred without too many hitches, why would the US be any different?

I've seen a few chip readers in the US, but none of them have been active.