Universal Smart Card Project

- USC for information and financial transaction

MONEY

Transaction (debit/credit/cash) and banking on the Internet must be economical and secure both at the server and client side.

1. Client/customer side - the typical transaction would be to pay for the goods or services received using either credit or debit card.
2. Server/merchant side - the service provider/merchant (or financial institution) would receive payments/transactions credited to their accounts. In both cases above some regulated financial institution is involved in each individual transaction and charging transaction fees.
3. Private credit/debit card - this card would be issued/sold to your business partners and customers. In Europe you can load the card in the cash machine. You would be their private bank cashing/or loading their "chips" (Cyber Café, Casino). These would be multidirectional transactions with money both entering and leaving your account.

For more information check:

• Smart card applications
• Smart Cards FAQs
• What is a smart card?
• Master Card smart card

INFORMATION

More and more information are entered into the electronic databases from the business cards, insurance cards, driver license - with errors introduced during the transaction. And there is a limit how much data one can put on the paper card, the magnetic card/chip card capacity is much greater.

FUNCTIONALITY

• Hardware:
  • Internal - like 3.5 disk drive - with SCSII interface
  • External - like 3.5 disk drive, or PCMCI - with SCSII or Parallel /read/write through
  • Multiformat/hybrid - magnetic stripe plus chip reader - VISA, MASTER CARD, DEBIT CARD, CUSTOM
• Software:
  • Authentication (voice?)
  • Encryption
  • CODEC (Encoding/Decoding - data compression - could be with encryption)
  • API to spreadsheet, database
  • Security/Data Access

Applications:

• Major Bank Cards
• Electronic Business Card
• Car Rental
• Video Rental
• Health Insurance Card
• Passport
• Phone Debit Card
• Security Access Card
• Cyber Cafe
• Custom Hotel Card
• Parking Meters

For more information on computer security (good idea, archaic implementation) check: Computer access via smart card

PROJECTED CUSTOMER COST/MARKET

Custom/debit card < $1 in 100s quantities

Card reader/writer < $100

The initial market would be cost competitive replacement for existing bank cards readers with PC interface.

From: Jiri Janecek

Date: August 15, 1995

Re: Cash on the Internet/Smart Card

One big stumbling block to shopping via personal computer has been the lack of a way to send payments securely over networks such as the Internet.

Consumers can send credit-card numbers in scrambled form, but then banks charge merchants relatively high transaction fees because they have no proof that customers actually have their cards in hand. And banks won't accept debit card payments over a network without the card itself being swiped through a terminal equipped with special hardware to scramble the data.

We need a low -cost HW ($100 retail) encryption devices to handle both credit and debit card. User sweeps the card through the reader AND must enter valid password to activate the transaction. The card could be used for other internal functions - like protecting confidential files on PC, or to access the PC. The simple home accounting SW should be included.

This card + reader should turn the PC into point-of-sale terminal. The reader should be interfaced with PC via extension to the parallel port (port is functional for other devices, when not used for the reader).

The impact could be enormous - domestic/international transactions without the direct bank participation. Selling software/information on the Internet, services and reservations on the Internet - etc. etc.

I think that the Czech Republic would be a good place to check the system - banking regulations are less strict than in USA, and the system MUST be robust enough to defeat hackers.

Jiri

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