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A smart card, or integrated circuit(s) card (ICC), is defined as any integrated circuitry embedded into a flat, plastic body. Although there are a diverse range of applications, there are two broad categories of ICCs. Memory cards contain only non-volatile memory storage components, and perhaps some specific security logic. Microprocessor cards contain memory and microprocessor components.

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Credit Card Companies Dodge Reform With New Fees

Companies have already rethought rates. Under the new law, issuers can't raise them without 45 days' notice. But there's a loophole: The rules don't apply to variable-rate cards, with rates that float up and down. That's why companies are moving more consumers into such cards, whose rates are likely to soar from their record lows. Researcher Bankrate.com (RATE) estimates variable-rate cards will account for 75% of all cards this year, up from 65% in 2008.

Fees have been another area of focus. Starting in February, lenders won't be able to charge consumers a penalty when they go over their credit limit. To make up for the lost revenue, issuers are coming up with a host of other penalties. Fifth Third Bank (FITB) started levying a $19 tariff if a borrower doesn't use the card for 12 months. Notes a Fifth Third spokeswoman: "The fee is used to encourage active use of accounts and to offset the increasing costs of accounts."

» Busness Week [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

Use Your Driver's License as a Debit Card

A startup promises to save both drivers and gas station owners a bundle at the pump by cutting credit cards out of the payment process. A two-year-old company called National Payment Card allows customers to pay for gas by swiping their driver's license and entering a PIN.

Aurora Bisig is a big believer in retailer discount cards. At her last count, she had a dozen—from Sam's Club (WMT) to nearly every grocery store in Central Texas. So this March, when the Austin (Tex.) insurance agent pulled into a gas station for a fill-up and saw a sign promising an additional 10¢ off per gallon for signing up with a new e-payment program, she was interested.

She was also pleased to learn that the "RollbackPrice" program wouldn't require her to add another piece of plastic to her overstuffed wallet. Instead, after entering her driver's license number and bank account information online with a two-year-old company called National Payment Card (NPC), she'd be able to pay for gas just by swiping her driver's license (linked directly, via the existing magnetic stripe, to her bank account), and entering a personal identification number.

» businessweek.com [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

Credit card offers in-game World of Warcraft rewards: it's real now

» worldofwarcraft.com [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

VeriSign to offer one-time-use passwords passwords on bank card

VeriSign is announcing that a deal is in the works to provide credit cards with one-time-use passwords. By placing the technology directly on the card, it becomes more convenient and provides an extra layer of security for online credit-card transactions. A cardholder would type in their information as normal and then would be prompted to enter the passcode displayed on the card. This means a user would need to have the physical card in hand in order to use it, thus thwarting identity thieves who steal credit card information but do not possess the card itself. VeriSign said it expects to announce a major bank using its cards in May.

» VeriSign

Wireless Card on Visa Platform

"Montreal-based Smart SMS Corp. has signed with mobile marketing firm MP3NY to launch a mobile Visa debit card through Columbia Card Services in the U.S. The T-Weed Wireless Visa, accessible by cell phone, PDA, computer or landline telephone, is being aimed at America’s “unbanked” consumers, small business owners, and immigrants."

» visa

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The standard perception of a "smart card" is a microprocessor card of credit-card shaped dimensions (or less, e.g. the GSM SIM card) with various tamper-resistant properties (e.g. a secure cryptoprocessor, secure file system, human-readable features) and is capable of providing security services (e.g. confidentiality of information in the memory).

Wireless Smartcard

A second type is the non-contact type called contactless smart card, where the chip communicates with the card reader through wireless self-powered induction technology (106-848 kbit/s).

The standards for the contactless protocol for smart cards are ISO/IEC 14443 (type A and B) from the year 2001, which allows communication distances up to 10 cm. There have been proposals for ISO 14443 type C, D, E and F that have yet to be accepted by the ISO standards committee. An alternative standard for contactless smartcard is ISO 15693, which allows communication distances up to 50 cm.

An example of a widely used contactless smartcard is Hong Kong's Octopus card, which predates the ISO/IEC 14443 standard. For use on public transportation, Malaysia introduced the Touch 'n Go smartcard in 1997, Paris introduced the Calypso card in October 2001, JR East introduced the Suica Card for the Tokyo area in November 2001, and London introduced the Oyster card in January 2004. In 2002, the Chicago Transit Authority introduced the Chicago Card. Taipei also has smartcard system called EasyCard from Taipei Smart Card Corporation. Boston plans to introduce the Charlie Card in 2006. Melbourne plans to have a statewide contactless-smartcard based ticketing system installed by 2007.

A related contactless technology is RFID (radio frequency identification) that in certain cases can be used for similar applications to contactless smartcard such as for electronic toll collection. RFID generally do not include writeable memory or microcontroller processing capability as contactless smartcard do.

There are dual-interface cards that implement contactless and contact interfaces on a single card with some shared storage and processing. An example is Malaysia's multi application smartcard identification called MyKad that uses both contact Proton and contactless Mifare (ISO 14443A) chips.

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