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Comment by geolisto | Hacker News Reader

When I read about massive data breaches such as these it makes me wonder why we don't have a system in place to where we as the customer can generate a unique authorization code for a one-time charge to our cards without having to actually reveal our credit card information.

It's bad enough that someone can buy a card reader and walk down a sidewalk and capture credit card data by just being within a few feet of someone.

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You can. It's called a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_payment_number

I use it all the time. I use one with every single online merchant except Amazon and Newegg. It's also great for places that like to auto-bill. Or if you are worried they will charge without permission.

If you are going to get a credit card, get it with one of the few banks that offer these numbers.

It's also great for asking someone to buy something for you: Create a number with a dollar limit and have them tell the merchant the number. Small merchants usually have no problem with this.

I've learned something new today. Thanks, ars.

Which bank do you have?

I have a credit card with Citibank which allows me to generate virtual card numbers, with an option to set the expiration and spending limit.

The wiki article has a list of banks that offer it.

Oh nice! That's a cool feature.

Some banks offer this service, which generate one-time credit card numbers for the specified amount of charge.

If you make it harder to pay, people will but less and when they do buy, they will more likely use cash. That is not a net win for credit cards.

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