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"The point sticks in your head: physics rules. Virtue does not triumph unless the physics allows it."
- Larry Niven
 |
| Bank Chip | ||
| A "smart" credit card. |
Although this novel takes place a little way into the future, microprocessor technology implanted in plastic cards is already available.
| She'd check herself out a week into the treatment. The medics protested. The detoxification had gone beautifully, they said, but the therapy hadn't began. They pointed out the rate of relapse among clients who failed to complete the program. They explained that her insurance was invalid as she terminated her treatment. Sense/Net would pay, she told them, unless they preferred she'd pay them herself. She produced her platinum MitsuBank chip. Her Lear arrived an hour later; she told it to take her to LAX, ordered a car to meet her there, and canceled all incoming calls. |
| From Mona Lisa Overdrive,
by William Gibson. Published by Bantam in 1988 Additional resources -
|
The integrated circuit chip in a smart card is not like the standard magnetic strip present on most credit cards and ID cards. The magnetic strip is mostly a read-only device; neither the consumer nor the retailer can write to the magnetic strip. It also has severe data storage limitations.
The chips now available can be used in a variety of ways:
The cards could also download applications that would run on the card itself; coupons and "frequent flyer mile" style programs to reward consumers can also be loaded.
These cards would provide the user with greater security, since they could generate their own unique identifiers. When used with a card reader attached to a home computer, they would provide a more secure way to shop over the internet.
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