Credit Cards in the Information and Technology Society

mLast March 25 -29, 2003, I attended the seminar 'Technology and Information in the Global Age' which is held in San Francisco as one of the Fulbright Enrichment Seminars. It was a great opportunity for me to know about the current situation in the Information and Technology (IT) field in the USA as well as in the other countries because the participants for that seminar came from the all over the world. I am going to write about a few stories that I experienced, heard and saw during the seminar. Coincidently those stories are related to a credit card with a regard to privacy and security issue.

mThe day when I departed for San Francisco, I brought my Korean passport and a credit card and a paper ticket to LaGuardia Airport. When I got to the airport, I wondered how to get the actual ticket for boarding. With the assistance of an airline officer, I learned that I didn't have to wait on the line for ticketing because the paper ticket was an electronic ticket. The officer asked me whether I had a credit card under my name and following his guidance I just put my credit card into the easy ticketing machine and after pushing some buttons and making sure if my name was correct, in less than one minute I got a real ticket. What a convenience! I was surprised about the easy procedure but on the other hand I was curious about what would have happened if I didn't have any credit card under my name at that moment. Or what would have happened if someone who had stolen my electronic ticket with my credit card and had tried to use the ticket instead of me? Although I needed to reveal personal information to confirm of my identity, that was all I had to do. The hotel where I stayed also asked me to show my credit card, instead of other identification. And during the travel, I didn't have an opportunity to use my passport.
Today, a credit card seems to replace the function of proving ID. However, I think because a credit card is not a photo ID card like a driver license or a passport, for the name of convenience, a credit card should not be used for identity card. Although I understood a credit card is given only after careful investigation into my identity, it is made for a different purpose than an ID card. It's for purchasing products or borrowing money and credit card companies ultimately want to make interest and make money. Furthermore when I think that usually a person has several credit cards in his or her wallet, it looks more dangerous.

mI think today the credit card seems to be used anywhere and many other functions are incorporated into a credit card. But at the same time I cannot help wondering about how secure it is. My doubt is based on this reason. When I had been here for one month, I wanted to get a credit card because I knew well its convenience. But I had a hard time to get a credit card because I didn't have any credit history in the U.S. I tried to look for information about how to get one in my case from various banks and credit card companies and I got negative answers from there. And I heard from other foreign students that it would be impossible to get one and so they were still using debit cards and cash instead of credit cards. Finally I managed to get one credit card under my name, which is specially offered to students and of course has many limited usages. But one month later, after purchasing something with the card and paying my bill, so many credit card advertisement letters from many credit card companies were sent to me. What does this mean? I wondered how the companies could know my address and how this could have happened. From then on, I began to not be able to rely on their statements that they will not reveal my personal information for any other purposes, a promise which I read when I signed the application providing my personal information which confirmed my identity. I think this situation is not an unusual thing. It is rather a very prevalent situation and we have got accustomed to this kind of situation and sometimes give up complaining about it. I heard that over 70 percent people who are dealing with information as their job, have experienced selling their information to other companies to make money.

mI have another story which is related to the credit card. As part of the schedule for the seminar we visited 'Sun Micro System' company in Silicon Valley, which was well known for Java programming language. Because of Java's fame, Sun has developed many kinds of systems such as mobile phone and telecommunication using features that can be transformed to any type of application. During a lecture for visitors, the phrase that Sun dreams of a world where everything is connected and incorporated together made me remember that. In a show room having a lot of items and products that the Sun had made together with other companies and individuals a machine for the gas station was most impressive. The guide explained to us that all systems were incorporated together and what the customer and gas station employer should do is only slide the credit card to see information about that customer. As soon as the customer charges some oil and pays the fee with credit card, the gas company gets the information about that customer and the car. And they also can obtain the customer's other information that is related to car and advise the customer when he has to change the engine oil and charge new battery and when the car has to go to be tested. The company also gets records about how much the customer has spent in the past and compare the prices the customer has paid and the company can give some bonus points to manage and help keep the customer. With one credit car transaction, the customer's entire history of transactions can be checked simultaneously and immediately. It's our future picture. Maybe in the future we will only bring our credit card without cash, and other cards in our purse. In Korea, I read an article that one day the cellular phone will function as cash and a card using a certain small chip that is attached to the cell phone and we can buy something and pay for it with the phone. The world is becoming smaller and smaller and more convenient. But how about our privacy and security? At the Sun showroom, one visitor asked what happened if the company could use other information about the customer which is not related to the oil company and is there any regulation to prohibit or protect those kinds of things. What the guide answered made us surprised. Using technology the companies could use only appropriate information. But right now there is no specific regulation about this. It means that using technology, some people might hack the code and get the information and use it for the wrong reasons.

mI think as we seek a more and convenient and easy way in daily life, everything seems to be incorporated in one small item easy like a credit card or cell phone I mentioned above. However, on the other hand, we need to consider about where our privacy and security is going. They seem like the back and the front side of the same coin. The developer of technology tends to think only about the most efficient method, and users who get accustomed to the easy way, as the time passes they tend to give up their rights. And because of the gap between efficiency and violating people's right we need to build strong regulations after thinking about what is the function of each convenient product and what could be needed if we want to make a really easy and convenient way in life.