PCI is a half-baked "solution" to protecting cardholders, and in the end it's just an excuse to charge merchants more fees.<p>The card brands (Visa, Mastercard, etc..) work closely with acquiring banks, merchant service providers, security vendors, and everyone else thats getting a piece of the action. Every time one of these companies speaks to a merchant the PCI boogie man is brought up, and it results in higher costs for merchants.<p>In the end its about shifting blame, and of course making more money. That being said it's a good thing there are security standards for cardholder data to prevent and lessen the impact of a breach. I just wish an independent group was overseeing it.