Technological innovation nowadays consists primarily of putting an LCD display in an existing device. My kettle has a screen that shows the temperature of the water. My TV remote has a touch screen (apparently the manufacturer thought a remote with four hours of battery life was a good idea) and now credit cards will soon come with an embedded LCD display and numeric keypad.

Visa have announced they're currently testing a prototype card which will feature a small liquid crystal display, similar to those on small calculators, and an embedded numeric keypad. The user will enter their PIN number on the card, which will then generate and display an unique code to validate each transaction.

Manufacturers claim the new technology will significantly decrease 'card not present' (CNP) fraud which typically occurs on Internet purchases.

Currently, CNP transactions only require the card number, expiry date and occasionally the three digit CVV code - all of which are available on the physical card, which makes card loss or theft a problem. By introducing a knowledge-based security component (in this case, a PIN number), designers hope only the cardholder will be able to make valid CNP purchases.

The rolling-security code makes PIN interception (on ATM skimming devices or over digital networks) impossible, as the transmitted PIN value changes for each transaction.

Currently, the designers are working on ways to make the technology cheaper and less fragile.

This all seems fairly useless to me. A simpler approach would be to abolish signature authorization and require a PIN number for all transactions, in the same way a PIN is required for EFTPOS purchases.

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