🚀 go-pugleaf

In <3C9FB5EF.1231D8F8@value.net> Silas Warner <silas@value.net> wrote:
>Gerfried wrote:

>Of course, the contact array has definite advantages on a smart
>credit card.  Mostly, it means that you have to be aware that the
>card is being read, unlike a Translink card which can be read
>and even written without your knowledge.  Transit agencies have
>apparently decided that the convenience of not having to haul the
>card out of a pocket or purse is worth the loss of security.

gosh, yeah... I think the Translink card is MTC's property anyway,
according to the terms and conditions.  I can't imagine what the security
issues are; most people think of a transit ticket as something that the
transit operator is allowed access to.  If the card is being written to
when the user is boarding a transit vehicle or something such, then it's
a desirable effect (to avoid fare evasion) and other than that, what
could the machine possibly want with the card?  is MTC going to write
personal details of your love life onto the card when you're not looking?

With Translink I find that maybe 1 out of 10 times the card doesn't tag
properly even within the 3-inch range.  With the Caltrain machines you
have to choose a zone button before the machine even notices there is a
card there (I've seen a few other Translink users hold up the card, watch
the machine not do anything, punch a zone button, watch it still not do
anything, and walk away.  you have to not move the card into the contact
area until instructed to by the display -- after pressing the zone
button.)  The machine also takes somewhere between half a second and a
second to recognize the card once it is in the target zone.  The height
of the machines and the fact that the card and reader need this slight
delay to make contact (just longer than the amount of time you might
swing a purse, etc) seems to make this impossible.

If the machine did something fare-related against your will or
accidentally activated, obviously the transit operator would refund the
amount of the mistake.

I think with a credit/ATM card these issues would be more justified, but
a fare card?  The only possible fear is of MTC tracking where you go and
when, and they've already informed the users that indeed they are, so
that takes care of that.  I suppose one might as well fear what the BART
gate does when you put your ticket into it.