Response from Starbucks: "We think Jonathan's
project is really interesting and are flattered
he chose Starbucks for his social experiment"
This to me is the most surprising and questionable aspect of this campaign being legitimate, but since nobody else is surprised I'm guessing it's normal? It seems like a total violation of the physical security embodied by requiring the purchaser to physically possess the card. Furthermore, depending on the transaction processing model they use, it could subject them to be fraud.
I thought the image was pretty indistinguishable from the app when viewed in an image browser. Most of them don't show any borders, so if you walk on the desk with the image ready, you probably couldn't tell the difference?
Either way, I'd rather 'assume good faith' as mentioned elsewhere in this thread. Currently I'm just curious, as I've been following the card story since before it got picked up by the more mainstream media.