a few minutes after they die, their iris is unchanging. For the purposes of an ATM machine, that's plenty of time. And you can't fool the machine by holding aloft a picture of the cardholder. The first thing the camera checks is whether the eye is pulsating, and thus alive. If the camera fails to detect blood flowing through the eye, then it concludes that it is looking at a picture or at someone who's dead.
It's fascinating technology, but I'm personally against these devices. I just think the whole idea is ridiculous. We've given up enough privacy in this modern age, so why should we be asked to give up anymore? The bank has enough information on its customers. Now it's saying that it wants them to give up their irises? For what? Something they're not even liable for. The most that crooks can normally take from one account is a couple of hundred dollars, and it's the bank's problem if it happens. So my feeling is, why insult your customer?
Chapter 8
[THE CYBERTHIEF]
Not long ago, I was faced with a real dilemma. One of my sons had a birthday coming up, and he wanted a guitar he'd seen on eBay. That particular guitar, and no other. I know that eBay is part of the pulse of daily life for many consumers, who regularly log onto the auction site to buy everything from car tires to knight's helmets. But it isn't part of my life. The Internet frightens me. I think it's a wondrous invention and there are many things I love about it, but it unnerves me because of all the possibilities for fraud. A firm rule of mine is never to buy anything over the Internet with a credit card, and I tell my wife and kids the same thing. I just don't trust the feeble amount of security that's been incorporated into most websites.
But now there was this guitar and my son's birthday. So I logged onto eBay and found the guitar. In order to purchase it, I had to go to a feature called Pay Pal. It required that I enter my credit card number. Given my convictions, I was very reluctant to do that, but I was even more reluctant to disappoint my son. So I went through the drill and typed in my MasterCard number and expiration date. Just as I was about to complete the transaction, I got panicky and had a change of heart. I pressed cancel. I'm not going to do this, I told myself. It violates all my principles. I signed off, unaware of my impending fate.
Fortunately, eBay tells you how to contact the owner of any item offered on its website, and so I sent an e-mail to the guy who was selling the guitar and asked him to call me. When he did, I talked to him for a bit and felt comfortable that he was legitimate. I told him I'd like to buy the guitar, but I wasn't going to give out my credit card on the Internet. I said I'd send him a cashier's check for the amount, and give him my Federal Express number so he could ship it to me. He agreed, I got the guitar, and my son was delighted.
Soon after, I received my MasterCard bill in the mail, and there was a two hundred fifty dollar charge from Pay Pal. I called and said that I hadn't bought anything. They told me to write a letter contesting it and they'd remove the charge. Then a package arrived at my house addressed to me. I opened it up and it was some ski pants. I hadn't ordered any ski pants. I didn't even recognize the company.
I called them up and was told it was an Internet purchase made on my MasterCard. I explained that I would never buy anything over the Internet. Obviously, someone had gotten hold of my credit card number, and the only way he could have done it was through that Pay Pal entry. Okay, the guy said, just put the pants in the box and send them back and I'd get a credit. I asked him why someone would use my credit card to buy something and then ship it to me? What probably happened, he said, was it was someone in my area. Most people are at work when packages arrive, and they get left on the porch. Thieves will order them, find out when they're to be delivered,