<http://www.cbronline.com/print_friendly/b6e1a01bb2c038c380256e450038609e> DATE: 25/02/2004 Microsoft Plans Biometric ID Cards Microsoft Corp yesterday announced that it plans to get into the identity card business, as it lifted the veil on software, under the name Tamper-Resistant Biometric Ids, it currently has under development. Demonstrated during Bill Gates' keynote address at the RSA Conference yesterday, the software comprises a system for producing cards and subsequently verifying that they have not been altered. Cards would consist of a photograph of the bearer, along with some personal information such as date of birth. The photo and the data would be hashed and stored in a two-dimensional color "bar code" on the card itself. Tampering could be subsequently detected by scanning the entire card and reperforming the hash, to see if it matched the one on the card. The word "biometric" seems to be loosely applied here to the fact that the cards carry photographs. Gates did not give a firm data for when the company expects to come to market with this technology, but it was suggested that it will not be this year. Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Add to Favorites Copyright | ComputerWire 2004 -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'