Money: A Card That Asks For ID

When IBM inventor Ed Kelley suddenly discovered that his telephone calling card had been canceled--the number had been stolen and used for exorbitant calls to Central America and Asia--he decided he'd had enough. To put an end to swiped identities and pilfered credit cards, he and IBM engineer Franco Motika set about developing a new generation of smart cards. The recently patented, theftproof card contains a computer chip and features a tiny numerical keypad right on its face. The cardholder inputs a PIN, stored directly in the card's circuitry; the same code must be entered before each use. The PIN turns...

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