Chip & PIN essays

Chip & PIN essays Fraud cost the UK Government 402 Million last year alone Traditionally when you pay for an item over the counter in any shop throughout the UK, using a credit or debit card, a receipt is printed for you to sign, to verify payment and for the cashier to verify that the card belongs to you by comparing the signature on the back of the card, to the receipt you signed. But recently credit card fraud has been on the increase as criminals are cloning stealing the cards and learning to forge the signature that appears on the card. This is happening more than ever before. Goods can be purchased with the swipe of a card, and a signature on a piece of paper, the cashier has the difficult task to determine whether the signature has been forged or not. This is quite a difficult task because it can be very hard to tell. Card issuers being more aware of this, have launched cards with a 3 digit security code, which is totally unique to the card, and is located on the back of the card (see fig 1.0), which is needed when using the card on-line, this has h elped towards cloning the cards, but if the criminal has stolen the card, this is useless. Now with the introduction of the new Chip cards, customers verify payment by typing in a 4 digit PIN code into a small keypad (see fig 2.0) much like you do at a cash-machine. The cashier verifies the owner of the card by the entry of a correct PIN. So if the card has been stolen, it is near impossible for the criminal to use the card, because they cannot forge the PIN, if a PIN is entered wrong 3 times the card is locked for use and the bank must be contacted. It is also much easier for the card holder to do something if they suspect they have been watched or someone knows their PIN. Previously if someone has cloned the card and the signature is the only form of identity verification, then the card had to be stopped, and a replacement sent out. Assuming the card hasnt been stolen, ...

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer - Discussion Questions

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer - Discussion Questions The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer was published in April 2013Publisher: Riverhead468 pages may seem like a simple story of how friendships formed as teenagers during summer camp evolve over the years with the characters. In fact, the novel has many threads that book clubs might choose to discuss dreams expectations, secrets, relationships and marriage are just a few. If your group is in New York City, there is also a lot about life there over the decades. These questions are designed to spark conversation and help your group go deeper into Wolitzers novel. Spoiler Warning: These questions reveal details of the story. Finish the book before reading on. There are several secrets in the novel. The next few questions will explore some of these, but feel free to bring up others and to discuss the overall role of secrets in the novel with your book club. The Interestings is divided into three parts: Part I - Moments of Strangeness, Part II - Figland, and Part III - The Drama of the Gifted Child. Do you think these titles or divisions are particularly meaningful to the story?Jules is one of the main characters in the novel, and one of her biggest struggles is contentment and envy. Early in the novel, Wolitzer writes of Jules, What if shed said no? she liked to wonder afterward in a kind of strangely pleasurable, baroque horror. What if shed turned down the lightly flung invitation and went about her life, thudding obliviously along like a drunk person, a blind person, a moron, someone who thinks that the small packet of happiness she carries is enough (3).Then later, when Jules is reading Ethan and Ashs Christmas letter, she says, Their lives were much too different now for Jules to have kept up a sustained level of envy. Mostly, she had given up her envy, had let it recede or dissipate so that she wasnt chronically plagued by it (48 ).Do you think Jules ever conquers her envy? Do you think her experiences at Spirit in the Woods and friendships with the Interestings actually made her happier? Why or why not? What did you think of Dennis and of his relationship with Jules? Was it good? Did you sympathize more with him or with her?Did you sympathize with the ways the characters had to adjust their expectations about life, love, and greatness?What did you think of Ethans giving financial help to Jules and Dennis? Was that an appropriate expression of friendship? How can friends navigate very different financial realities?Did you have any camp or teenage experiences that were as forming as Spirit in the Woods?The biggest secret in The Interestings is that Goodman is still alive and in contact with his family. Why do you think Ash never told Ethan? Do you think he would have reacted differently to finding out if Ash had been honest with him?Do you think Goodman raped Cathy? Why or why not?Jonah also holds on to a secret from his childhood for most of his life that he was drugged and his music stolen. Why dont you think Jonah ever told anyone? How did this secret change the course of his life ? Ethan secretly loves Jules his whole life. Do you think he also truly loves Ash? What do you think about his other secrets contacting Cathy, doubting his love for his son? Are they as big as the secret Ash keeps from him? Why or why not?Were you satisfied with the end of the novel?Rate The Interestings on a scale of 1 to 5.