News

NY legislator intros bill to mandate chip cards - but not readers

March 25, 2014

New York State Senator Martin J. Golden held a press conference last Friday to announce legislation he is sponsoring that would require card issuers to provide chip cards to all cardholders residing in New York State.

A news release issued after the press conference included Golden’s remarks at the event:

This legislation would require smart chip technology to be incorporated in our debit and credit cards to help protect against identity theft. Over the past few weeks, my district has been targeted by hackers who have been able to break through the security walls of some local stores. The false charges reported to my office have been made in Brooklyn, Long Island, Connecticut and even Puerto Rico.

Believe it or not, most New Yorkers have credit cards that still rely on the magnetic stripe, a technology developed in the 1960’s, which lags far behind the chip in terms of security. As the criminals work to out-smart us, we must create new laws to protect our shoppers and our stores.

The release made no mention of requiring the removal of the magnetic stripe from the back of New Yorkers' cards, nor of requiring New York merchants to install equipment capable of reading chip cards, both of which would be essential to prevent the fraud to which Golden referred.

The legislation (S. 6551-A) is not yet posted for review on the New York Senate website.