In message , at 16:06:24 on Sat, 25 Feb
2012, Adam H. Kerman remarked:
No, UK credit cards also have a magnetic stripe on the back, so they can
be swiped through a US retail terminal. You just have to sign on the
transaction, rather than use your PIN.

That's interesting. In the UK, do you use the PIN both when swiping

Almost no-one swipes cards any more, they are fitted into a chip reader.

In both cases you'd need a PIN, unless it's one of those intangible
purchases like a parking garage, where they seem to have decided that
the cost of doing PIN verification is greater than the potential fraud
from skimmed cards (and the product has a zero marginal costs anyway).

and using it as a proximity card?

I'm told about 1:10 proximity card transactions require a PIN. Whether
it's random, or by profiling the retailer/customer, I doubt is in the
public domain.
--
Roland Perry