AGAINST ID CARDS

[Lynn.Wheeler at firstdata.com]

slight note ... id-card-scanners at airports isn't really a cost issue, it
is the cost/benefit of using them. most of the airlines have put in the
gate scanners that are either mag-stripe and/or bar-code readers (the
overall station cost drawfs the specifics of the actual reader part of the
cost). some of them have also done extensive testing of  7816 contact
chip-card readers. the problem with 7816 chip-card readers in high-traffic
& transit applications is that they have very poor reliability and bad
failure characteristics (for instance readers can develop burs on the
contacts which rips the contacts on the card ... not only does the reader
fail ... but it takes some number of cards with it). europe is starting to
see some conversion from contact-card infrastructure to proximity chip
cards (because of the reliability issue of contact chip-card readers)  ...
similar to the kind you see in Wash DC (and other) metro stations (again
the gate/station cost is significantly higher than the specifics of any
card reader costs ... and still can be deployed in even lower-value metro
uses).

some of the financial stored-value chip-card value propositions were
primarily to the operators having the float (aka you paid money to the
operators which they deposited in interest bearing accounts, and they then
gave you a non-interest-bearing credit in your card). that restricted value
proposition may be one of the reasons that they have had lower success.
However, by comparison there is pretty wide deployment and use in the US of
magnetic-stripe stored-value cards (filling the same market niche as the
chip-card stored value cards) .... common deployment is as "gift cards" on
j-hooks at check-out counters in many department, drug, convinience, etc
stores.

there is the story about one of the stored-value contact card operators
making a presentation at a transit meeting. They explained that they could
meet the turnstyle transversel rate by having a 10 foot "tunnel" leading up
to the turnstyle ... the contact card would be loaded into a RF contactless
"carrier" and if the people were forced to walk slowly thru the tunnel, the
transaction could just about be completed before they reached the
turnstyle.




Carl Ellison <cem at acm.org> at 10/07/2001 8:23 AM wrote:


           So, I think we have a harder problem than we thought we did --
but I
also think that the opposition does, too.  Issuing national ID cards
would be expensive and would meet much resistance from the US
population.  Installing "ID-card-scanners" would be even more
expensive, perhaps enough to stop that step from happening.  (Seen
any Mondex card scanners lately?) Building the underlying database
mechanism would be far more expensive and would meet far more
resistance, but it's not until you do the second that you have any LE
value or any privacy threat at all.  If all you do is ask for the ID
card and don't check it, you encourage stupid uses (and therefore
identity theft).






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