Web Cam Credit Card Processing

Webcam Credit Card Processing

Credit Card Processing

It may sound strange but Webcam Credit Card Processing may indeed be on the way.  For those who accept credit card, technology keeps changing at a seemingly record pace.  Not all the new technologies will stick and some may leapfrog each other to gain traction in the marketplace but Webcam online credit card processing is certainly intriguing.
At first glance it would not seem to be the most secure process but we need to get used to the idea that electronic payments are here to stay and may be completely secure.  This particular method of credit card processing is based on secure video streaming which has become quite popular of late.
If we think about it, the way we pay for things has changed dramatically over the last decade.  Ten years ago most of wouldn’t dream of entering our credit card data into a web form but not it is second nature.  Paypal has created an online intermediary for credit card processing with some recourse for both merchant and customer.  Privacy policies have evolved to acceptable levels because the volume of online credit card processing demanded such a change.
This new video streaming is perfectly timed because of all the news of hacking and fraud taking place in the industry.  I cannot see how it would be foolproof but anything promising more security will lead to more people using online credit card processing under the guise of security.  This technology my prove only to be a just a convenience for consumers.  But it certainly is cool.
To use it, a merchant will have to enable special software which for all intents and purposes will turn the webcam of any desktop into a credit card reader.  The customer will hold their credit card in front of the webcam an after it is read, be prompted to enter the three digit CCV security code on the back of the card.  Then when the system accepts the card, the transaction is complete.
The enhanced safety measures are that the customer will never have to give their card to anyone else and it would be very difficult for criminals to copy down the account number, expiration dates and CCV security code without the card ever leaving the customer’s hand.  We are assuming here that this software is hack proof.  It may very well be but chances are that the merchant’s computer could be susceptible to hackers is more likely.  In general, securing business computers costs money and until Visa and other credit card providers require top level security for merchants, it would be impossible to tell which merchants are in compliance with security measures and which ones are just “saying” they are.
Most data leaving a business system through a merchant account is already encrypted and relatively safe and secure.  Secure video streaming technology is also encrypted which is what makes this data transfer relatively secure.  There are no paper trails or receipts to shred and the only real future security issue would be how a merchant stores yours financial data and purchase information for returns and exchanges.  Again, chances are the merchant doing the credit card processing has no bad intentions but there are those unscrupulous individuals looking to take advantage of a merchant with inferior security measures for their systems.