CDR: Re: VISA to smartcard the US
Kerry L. Bonin
kerry at vscape.com
Wed Sep 13 13:07:20 PDT 2000
Take a look at Dallas Semiconductor's Crypto iButton family. FIPS level 2
and 3 certified DSA/SHA services with a JVM in a large watch battery form
factor, under $50 for FOB and interface. (Disclaimer - I don't work there,
I've just used their products for many years now and have designed them
into a dozen odd products.) Many interesting places use these as personal
certificate storage to authenticate access.
At 02:18 AM 9/13/00 -0400, Ray Dillinger wrote:
>
>
>Hmmm. These devices could be useful, even without using
>them as credit cards. I wonder if you could buy a batch
>of them from the manufacturer with custom software installed?
>
>It would sure be nice if I could make a physical key token
>that would render my system completely useless if the key
>were, say, in my wallet at work, and the computer found its
>way to, say, the hands of someone carrying out an illegal
>search and seizure.
>
>likewise it would be nice to store PGP keys on, etc -- bits
>of data that you want to maintain complete physical control
>of at all times.
>
>"Oppression is sometimes best fought with the tools that
>the oppressors have built for their own use."
>
>I want a PGPdisk you can boot from.
>
> Bear
>
>
>On Tue, 12 Sep 2000, A. Melon wrote:
>
>>Sep 12, 2000 - 07:27 PM
>>
>> Visa USA to Launch Smart Card in
>> the U.S.
>> The Associated Press
>>
>> NEW YORK (AP) - After success with its smart card in
>> Europe and Japan, Visa is aiming squarely at the U.S.
>> market with an upgraded version that contains more
>> memory.
>>
>> Over the next couple of weeks, Visa USA, the
>> companys U.S. division, will be launching smart cards
>> - microprocessors embedded in plastic -that will offer
>> prepackaged services to be determined by its issuers.
>>
>> Customers will be able to download information from
>> their computers via special card readers. Over the next
>> year or so, they will be able to store airline tickets, for
>> example, and eventually use the cards as keys to their
>> cars and homes.
>>
>> The card, which has 32 kilobytes of memory, is
>> different from Visas original version, which has mainly
>> served as a "monetary value card," said Al Banisch,
>> senior vice president of consumer credit products.
>>
>> The new card will be available free to Visas 350
>> million cardholders.
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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