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Seven merchant organizations have gotten together and issued a proposal to the PCI Security Standards Council that would both increase security and reduce some of the stress on merchants that are trying to comply with the standards.

The Council is listening. Bob Russu, General Manager of the PCI Security Standards Council is actively soliciting input from merchants before the next revision of the standard that is due in September of next year.

The timeline for the update and feedback phases can be found here. Merchant911 urges all merchants, on-line or not, to contact the PCI Council with suggestions and concerns. Now is the chance to be heard! Full contact information can be found on their website.

Reference:

Merchants Struggle to Comply With PCI Security In Economy - Network World

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Effective January 1, 2010, any merchant accepting credit cards doing business in the state of Nevada must be in compliance with the current PCI standards set forth by the PCI Security Standards Council.

Like most laws, this one raises a question. According to Section 1, Paragraph 1:

If a data collector doing business in this State accepts a payment card in connection with a sale of goods or services, the data collector shall comply with the current version of the Payment Card Industry (PCI) …

So if an e-Commerce merchant accepts an Internet transaction from a Nevada resident (or just someone passing through for that matter) is that e-Commerce merchant ‘doing business’ in the state of Nevada? I would say, in the strict application of the language, yes he is. Therefore he has violated Nevada law if he’s not in compliance.

There are some other important points to the law. It extends regulations to non-credit card data as well. SSN, Drivers License and other information are also covered in the new law.

Unfortunately, I don’t see the law as having any real teeth. There are no penalties for violation.

Some interesting commentary on the law can be found here and you can read the law in it’s entirety here.

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There is no description that can adequately cover the magnitude of the honor that plain ordinary foks expressed in this seemingly endless line for one fallen hero. Few of us could ever comprehend it, much less earn it.

He was a member of the GA National Guard. He had served In the 1st and 2nd Gulf wars and now volunteered to go to Afghanistan. He had been there 3 weeks, when his convoy was attacked, killing him and 2 other soldiers, also from Georgia .

This video is of the procession. The procession was about a 20 mile route.

About 2/3 of the way through, as they enter McDonough you will see a Billboard on the right, look close at it. You will see SFC Beale’s picture

This video takes some time, grab a Kleenex, you are going to need it.

Cut and paste this if you need to:

http://blip.tv/play/AYGJ5h6YgmE

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Proponents claim that PCI compliance should translate into profits for the merchant due to fewer chargebacks, less internal fraud and a lower risk of security breaches. I don’t buy it. Apparently, neither does Columnist David Taylor in a recent article in StoreFront BackTalk

I have a problem getting my head around the concept that PCI reduces fraud for the merchant in compliance. Maybe in a remotely peripheral sense if a few of the hacked cards resulting from non-compliance are used against the merchant from whom they are stolen.

I don’t see any other ROI for an individual merchant unless they are breached and were not in compliance. Then, the ROI in the form of avoided fines can be significant.

I’m not against PCI compliance and I’d agree that overall it can certainly reduce fraud collectively for the merchant community. But to say that it will reduce fraud for a merchant in compliance is a stretch.

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You probably know that Wells Fargo took over Wachovia. Now those cards will be processed by First Data. First Data announced that Wells Fargo & Company expanded its agreement for card processing services. Now Wells Fargo will move its newly-acquired Wachovia credit card portfolios to First Data for comprehensive card processing services.

A lot of on-line merchants have issues with First Data so this partnership probably won’t be welcomed by the merchant community. There’s nothing we can do about it but I thought you’d want to know.

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