Finally -- a reporter that actually checked out whether camera phones could be used to photograph credit card numbers. An article on the News Channel 5 Web site (a Cleveland/Akron TV station), debunks the idea that camera phones could be used to steal credit card numbers by photographing the number..
John Matarese, who writes a "Don't Waste Your Money" column (or is this a TV spot, too?), asked a local advertising executive to test two camera phones for their ability to take photos clear enough to view a credit card number. (My assumption is the advertising executive contacted Matarese, but it's not noted in the article.)
The article reports, "A credit card and an ATM card were laid out, with some digit [one digit? some digits?] blacked out to be safe. From a foot away, the numbers could not be seen."
The article concludes: "Today's camera phones don't zoom in, so the camera had to be 4 inches away before seeing a grainy image of some numbers. Of course, you should always protect your credit card out in public, but a thief would have to be just inches from your card to capture its number."
Yes, but...
As I have written several times (and other Webloggers also have noted), it's impossible (or almost impossible under normal circumstances) to get close enough to a credit card to capture an image sharp enough the show the number.
I've written several article (posted in the "Security" section of my Weblog) about this topic. As I wrote in the first article, I took a photo with a camera phone that was clear enough to read the numbers on the front, but it was close to the card and the lighting was good.
So, this is not something to worry about now. When one megapixel camera phones are introduced in the United States this year, the resolution certainly will be better. But, the phone still has to be close enough to take a sufficiently sharp photo.
If digital zoom software improves dramatically or if camera phones get optical zooms, then it might be time to revisit this issue.
Comments