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Brad Rogers wrote: > Indeed. In much the same way that having a 3 (or 4) digit "security" > code on a credit or debit charge ensures you have that card. How? > Once you use that number once, be it on the 'phone, on-line, or > wherever, at least one other person has that number. Security is > compromised. > I live in a town of 50,000 inhabitants. A friend of mine says he knows 4 people with the same 'randomly generated' PIN code (no I don't know why they told him). Say only half have credit cards - that's 25000 / 4 with probably the same PIN or 6250. In my experience they're not actually truly random either. Of three credit cards I have had, there is a simple identifiable pattern. Take an example of 6342 The first two digits add up to the same as the last three. That's an example of course not my real PIN ;) However I noticed it on two separate cards and I'd be curious if anyone else has the same pattern. Even if they don't there are only 10,000 combinations and if we say that 50% of the country has a credit card (I read that somewhere - I forget where), that's 30,000,000 / 10,000 with the same PIN number. 3000. If we knock off the obvious 0000, 1111, 1234 etc there are even less options. The true figure probably lies somewhere between the 6250 in Barry where I live and the 3000 above. What's wrong with something similar to fingerprint technology that would recognise your signature on a pressure pad? Much more unique. The only snag being that my signature is so unique *I* don't get it the same every time. Kind regrds, julian -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html