Job v. Halifax

Today was a very unusual day in my academic career, many members of our research group took the day off to watch the civil trial Job v. Halifax. The case was brought by Alain Job, a Cameroonian immigrant, against Halifax bank. Job claimed there were phantom withdrawals from his account and was the first person in the UK to bring a bank to trial over the security of the Chip & PIN system for bank cards.

This has been a major topic for my research group over the years, which I've caught the tail end of, and Steven Murdoch testified as an expert witness in the case. We went to watch Steven, observe the case, and to learn a bit about what it's like to see crypto in action in a legal setting. This case had everything, lots of intrigue and mistakes by both sides. And of course the Lawyers were wearing powdered wigs. It's a minor case, but represents an interesting battle of the little guy vs. the giant bank, which is a struggle that has been playing out more and more these days.

The judge should issue his decision within a month, we're all anxiously waiting.