[bryanthompson]

The liability shift in the US that affected most retailers occurred in October 2015 -- basically, merchants are and have been liable for fraud that occurs on swiped transactions. I'd be curious to find out how the example presented by the parent article could change this -- a valid-looking card that only has swipe would definitely be taken by a merchant for fraud, and if the card doesn't claim to be EMV-capable, it seems like this would not be the merchant's fault. I would think in 2020, however, a mag stripe only card would raise red flags with humans at the counter, but gift cards are this way, so perhaps they would just breeze right through.

[lotsofpulp]

Previous commenter and I were talking about chip and pin, not just chip (aka EMV).

With EMV, someone can still use your card after they steal it. With chip and pin, that is far more difficult. I don’t know if merchant off the hook even with just chip, I presume the card networks kept some weasel language in order to allow them to blame the merchant.

[Symbiote]

EMV is the standard for the debit/credit cards with chips. It includes modes with PINs, signatures, and neither, depending on the configuration of the card (i.e. the bank) and the reader (i.e. the shop's bank/intermediary).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMV