Mastercard - True Name Card - Will this open up for biometric data linked to our credit?

Is there anything Mastercard cannot do? They have now launched something called the True Name™ card. It "will allow for true names, not deadnames, to appear on cards without the requirement of a legal name change." Now, I'm not exactly sure how Sisyphean of a task it is for other people to change their names, but isn't all you need to do, is fill out a form? So here we are, with a card that doesn't match the name on the persons ID card. Will that not be an issue? I'm often asked to present my ID with my card when I travel abroad and run into card machines that I'm not familiar with, how are they to know that my ID and my True Name™ 'match' when the only data they check for this match is the name? 

Don't get me wrong, I have an unusual first & last name that isn't even spelt correctly when I live, and thus bank, outside of Sweden. To people not blessed with as many vowels as we have, they think my first name is Ask, not Åsk, and I do know the extremely annoying feeling I get having to present a card spelt wrong, and then sign a paper with the correct spelling. I would welcome a True Name™ card that actually spelt my name Åsk as it should be, and perhaps then I would not have to endure yet another "should I ASK you what your name is" joke. But I have a suspicion that Mastercard hasn't hacked this magic card to use anything other than standard English alphabet so I'll still be Ask and my pal 田頭 will still be Tagashira. Fair enough. This is not for us. 

“We are allies of the LGBTQIA+ community, which means if we see a need or if this community is not being served in the most inclusive way, we want to be a force for change to help address and alleviate unnecessary pain points,” said Randall Tucker, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for Mastercard. “This translates not only for our Mastercard employee community but for our cardholders and the communities in which we operate more broadly. Our vision is that every card should be for everyone.”

It does make me wonder how this all actually works. And why it's necissary, when card machines let you plainly "blip" your card on it, or use your pin code with either chip or magnet stripe, requiring no interaction from the cashier. It's when you use a card issued in one country, in another that the pin code can be an issue, which is when cashiers revert to the signature and ID situation. And that brings us to the fun of handing over a national ID from one country in another, and the  subsequent squinting from a perplexed cashier who can't figure out where my name is on it, but have no fear my biometric data is also in it. Basically, if this opens up for fraud, I fear we will soon see our Mastercards linked to our biometric data to prevent such fraud. And I really don't fancy the idea of paying for my latte with my fingerprint in the future. 

Client: Mastercard

Ad agency: McCann New York

Adland® is supported by your donations alone. You can help us out by buying us a Ko-Fi coffee.
Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
comment_node_story
Files must be less than 1 MB.
Allowed file types: jpg jpeg gif png wav avi mpeg mpg mov rm flv wmv 3gp mp4 m4v.
ψηφισάτω 's picture

This is a scary thought. Soon we will all carry the number of the beast.

MasterRace's picture

Oh look, a new way to capture more data from users. How exciting.

Anonymous Adgrunt's picture

Why do we even have names then? Why not whatever verb we want. I am "jumping"

Dabitch's picture

That reminds me of a restaurant called "Gratitude" where you order the "I am hopeful" plate with the "I am vivacious" drink.