Credit Card Data

This is only tangentially related to health informatics...unless you feel that public display of your credit card # is dangerous to your financial health.

Today, I used the FAX machine at my local public library. The FAX machine is run by a company called FAX24, and the instructions are pretty standard.

• pick up the phone on the FAX machine
• Dial *3
• Listen to the instructions
• Enter your credit card number on the keypad
• Enter your credit card expiration date on the keypad
• Enter the destination FAX #
• Add your sheets and press START

Works like a champ, and at the end the machine releases a small confirmation printout to tell you whether your transaction was OK or whether it failed.

Today was the first time I really looked at the printout.

There's my Credit Card # and expiration date prominently displayed.

I wonder how many people toss this confirmation printout into the trash on their way out of the library.

Is it me or does everyone think this is a major no-no?