Dear Linkedin,

[lyndon at orthanc.ca (Lyndon Nerenberg)]

> It is far preferable for the merchant to request ID and verify that the 
> signature matches the ID _AND_ the picture in the ID matches the 
> customer.

In the late 1990s I had a Visa card from (I think) Citibank that had my 
picture embossed on the front of the card.  I'm surprised this didn't 
catch on with more card issuers.  I see that Bank of America offers this 
free of charge to their Visa clients, as do some US based credit unions.

That card was never lost or stolen, so I don't know if the photo 
verification would fail as spectacularly as signatures do.

--lyndon