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Originally Posted by nffc
It's been stated already on this thread, that some cards have a photo on the card. Why this cannot be made standard, as an anti-fraud device, I don't know. Then, it's something for them to check, bit like the signature, but it's better than nothing- and if the retailer decides the pic isn't representative they have to produce other ID. A picture on the card would cost little more to implement, and would take such little effort but it would aid in the "shoulder surfing" problem.
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Pictures on cards - a nice idea, but not really simple to implement - well the logistics of printing a picture on a card are - but a picture of who?
To do this you need to get the digitised picture and put it on the card, but the picture needs to be verified as being a image of the applicant else it is a waste of space - this would mean no more on line applications for credit etc as you would need to take a trip to the bank that is lending the money for them to take a picture of you. Fine for those card issuers with a branch network, but what about the Capital Ones, MBNAs, Morhgn Stanleys, Citibanks etc of the lending world. These entities have few or no branches making this process far harder.
Realistically it is a requirement to have your passport or drivers licence or other govt iss'd photo ID to hand when you use a card. This is how they are overcoming the swipe and sign fraud in the US. Around high fraud areas you cannot spend without a photo ID. I noticed this particularly around DC station for example - but most Americans carry their drivers licence all the time so it is less of an issue.