Growth of Smart Cards

Most of us are familiar with the use of the credit card, which in reality is a preapproved method of processing small loans. The magnetic strip along one side of a credit or ATM card is a vital link in electronic banking which makes the adaptation of debit and smart cards a reality. With a single swipe of a card through a reader, plus the application of a pin number, computer systems can verify and authorize the transfer of credit or cash (Allen, 1995a).

With silicon chip technology being added to the format of the credit card, the debit and the smart card became a reality. The debit card has been marketed in the United States chiefly as a means of paying for different services. The acronym POS (point of service) has been coined specifically to describe this usage. Debit cards are electronically 'written'

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difficulties with smart cards begin when one has to define exactly what money is, what security is, and what a bank is. While smart cards are loaded with convenient time and money saving features, they lack the one feature that cash retains: complete anonymity. Smart cards combine a number of features that cash cannot match, such as credit, debit, and information functions. Cash lends a certain portability and instant recognition to its user that Bank Americard or CitiBank, for instance, cannot guarantee (Akst, 1996). In an economic environment like the United States or Europe, the information trail left by electronic transactions is easily traceable and usable by enterprising individuals and agencies. The difficulty with using the smart card in is its current format, is that it cancels out an individual's right to privacy, and opens the use of digitally generated information to possible abuse. In the current political environment it is difficult to say whether passage of legislation to protect the privacy of individuals is a reality or not. Even so, what is occurring is nothing less than a redefinition of what money is (Akst, 1996). Ways of resolving the use and definition of money in the realm of smart cards are already bei
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Approximate Word count = 3350
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)

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