PIN ACRONYM (BUSINESS WORLD)

Short for personal identification number, a confidential code-number allocated to the holder of a cash card or credit card for use when the card is inserted into a cash dispenser or ATM. Etymology: The initial letters of Personal Identification Number. History and Usage: The PIN (sometimes tautologically called a PIN code or PIN number) appeared at the beginning of the eighties, when greatly improved machines ensured that public take-up of automatic cash dispensing began to increase, and greater protection against misuse became necessary. The PIN is a security measure, designed to render the cards useless to a thief, since the machine will not carry out a transaction until the PIN has been keyed in correctly; the PIN relating to a particular card must therefore be revealed only to the card-holder, who must keep it secret. This need for secrecy has led to all kinds of mnemonics and means of writing the number down in a way which a thief would not recognize. Self-service machines which allow a customer to pay for goods and services using a credit card and the appropriate PIN were introduced in 1984 with the trade mark Pinpoint. Where the card-holder had disclosed his PIN, or recorded the PIN with the card, the card-holder was liable for any unauthorized transactions. Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 14 July 1986, p. 25 For motorists..., we're installing Pinpoint machines for buying petrol in Shell garages all over the country. Daily Telegraph 24 Feb. 1987, p. 5 I reported the missing credit cards...but I did not call my bank that evening, trusting that nobody could use that card without the PIN code. New York Times 21 Nov. 1989, section A, p. 24