March 9, 2015 - A campaign designed to put pressure on US card issuers to embrace chip and PIN, rather than just chip and signature, technology has been launched.

America is finally making the shift from magstripe-based payments to EMV, with the card firms setting a deadline of this October for retailers to upgrade their POS hardware. However, unlike in Europe, banks do not have to issue PINs with the new chip cards, meaning customers can sign for in-store purchases.

Explaining this decision back in 2012, Stephanie Ericksen, Visa's head of authentication product integration, argued that "we can rely on online processing where transactions are transmitted in real-time to the issuer for approval. With that in place, there's no need for the offline authentication that was the genesis of chip-and-PIN."

While some firms, such as JP Morgan Chase, have decided to go with chip and PIN anyway, many others have opted for the cheaper and simpler chip and signature option. Anre Williams, president, global merchants services, American Express, told Reuters that "It is the PIN management system that takes the effort".

A firm called Consumer Policy Solutions is now trying to build a public campaign - 'Protect My Data' - to "work with stakeholders across the spectrum to help equip Americans with the best and most proven protections available," and put pressure on firms to opt for chip and PIN.

The campaign cites president Barack Obama's move last year to sign an executive order mandating the use of chip and PIN technology at executive departments and agencies as an example that the private sector should follow.

Debra Berlyn, president, Consumer Policy Solutions, says: "With access to the most advanced technology available, there is no reason for this pattern of half-hearted efforts to continue. A crucial element in improving our current system is a migration from our outdated chip and signature payment cards to chip and PIN equipped payment cards."