The PIN was not simply written on the card.
Goodfellow’s system sensed coded information from a token, then compared it with digits entered by hand. The PIN data was scrambled so a stolen card would not tell a thief what to type. In modern language, it joined something you had with something you knew.
The patent allowed more than one input design (including a rotary-telephone-style dial) and even contemplated retaining the card. The lasting idea was the relationship between card and secret, not the plastic or keypad.
Read the original patent →Enfield was first installed. Goodfellow’s card-and-PIN system endured.
Sight loss should not decide how independent life can be.
The local independent charity helps blind and sight-impaired people of every age live in the way they choose across Lincoln, East and West Lindsey, North and North East Lincolnshire. It says it receives no government, council or statutory funding; an ongoing Wonderful Org page is supporting that work.
Support Lincoln & Lindsey Blind Society →The payment record that burned down Parliament.
Friday: how split hazel tally sticks made debts tamper-evident. And how two cartloads of obsolete records helped destroy the old Palace of Westminster in 1834.