Open Letter to DVLA - Disappointment at Verified By Visa Adoption


OPEN LETTER TO DVLA ( if you wish to write yourself, it's: evl.feedback@dvla.gsi.gov.uk )

Not sure how to make a complaint, but suffice it to say this is one.

I was disappointed to see the previously consumer friendly tax disc system implement Verified by Visa. Why?

1. This system is anti-small business (such as mine) being thrust onto them as an extra payment hurdle that big players like Amazon do not have to implement. Government should not be supporting systems that actively hurt small UK engines of growth in favour of big global corporations IMO.

2. It is anti-consumer, not just because it makes smooth processes (like your own) more convoluted, but analysis of the protocol by academia has shown it to have many security issues that affect the consumer, including greater surface area for phishing and a shift of liability in the case of fraudulent payments (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-D_Secure#General_3-D_Secure_Criticism ). Basically, Visa can more readily get of protecting consumers when verified by visa is fradulently used.
3. Their insistence on serving the system either via i) pop-ups from an external site not related to the merchant, bank or visa themselves(!) or ii) embedding their system in the third party site means that it is difficult for even technical consumers to differentiate between an authentic page and a phishing page.
Even when the system does work, it's flawed - see http://www.pcpro.co.uk/realworld/373768/the-security-hole-in-verified-by-visa and the numerous other articles by academics and industry commentators - just Google it.

It is thoroughly disappointing that a UK government department has either been bullied into using this, or has (perhaps worse) made the conscious decision to implement a system that worsens trust, ruins the previously smooth & painless process, shifts liability for fraud from the card carriers to the consumers and openly supports mechanisms that benefit international corporate interests at the detriment of UK small business.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Installing LAMP Apache/MySQL/PHP on Chromebook/Chromebox

Google Chromebook / Chromeboxes make excellent mini web-servers for development/testing/office use, or for using in kiosks / taking to tradeshows etc. Amazingly there is enough space on them for a reasonable sized web-site and database, and the oomph is comparable to a medium-size virtual server from one of the popular web-hosts. Firstly, get your Chromebox / Chromebook running Linux by installing Chrubuntu: Follow this guide here ->  http://webonaut.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/installing-ubuntu-linux-on-your.html Bring up a Terminal. (Remember, your user is called "user" with password "user" by default). Type: sudo apt-get install tasksel sudo  tasksel Use the cursors to select "LAMP" (dom't deselect the default options or you may take away your desktop!) then hit return. (BTW: Now is a good time to try Edubuntu as it is cool, and openssh-server is useful too ;) Give the mysql root user a password when prompted. Test it out! Try this
Read more

Installing Ubuntu Linux on your ChromeBox/ChromeBook

NOTE: THIS WILL WIPE YOUR BOX! (but you only store stuff in the cloud, right?) Switch the developer switch on your machine (it's in a little hole on the back of the Chromebox. Use a paper clip and BE CAREFUL - it's not a strong switch) Switch the machine on. The unhappy face means you are in developer mode (sweet!). You can wait (and put up with the loud double-beep) or press Ctrl+D to continue Log into ChromeOS as normal Open a browser window and press Ctrl+Alt+T to bring up the mildly rubbish in-browser crosh terminal type "shell" to get a decent bash shell type "sudo bash" to get an even better root shell! type " chromeos-firmwareupdate --mode=todev " to update and properly enter developer mode Note: switch back later by typing the reverse into an Ubuntu shell, e.g. " chromeos-firmwareupdate --mode=normal " type "reboot" and follow steps 4,5 and 6 again The next steps are a bit convoluted, but here's a handy
Read more

Changing your Mac OSX Terminal's default text editor

For just this session, simply type: export EDITOR=emacs (or replace emacs with vim , nano or whatever) Personally, I like to use emacs on servers, but on my Mac TextWrangler is way more helpful. One of the great things about TextWrangler is that you can get it to magically pop edit requests out of the Terminal simply by installing it and typing "edit". To make all other programs use this method try: export EDITOR="edit -w" For a more permanent fix, add the same line to your .bashrc file. If you've not already got one of those, type: edit ~/.bashrc (The one exception is git, which you'll need to configure thus:) git config core.editor "edit -w"
Read more