It is my understanding that the merchant is/will be responsible for any fraud since the whole chip thing became activated. I think the cc companies are wanting to pass responsibility on to them if they don't have working card readers. Something like this could cause massive headaches. Now, whether or not the cc companies will actually win this argument is yet to be seen, but I thought it might be worth a mention.
Correct. I was not liable for the transaction though I don't know if it was on the card issuer or the merchant, and don't really care. This is also why I never use a debit card except at an ATM.