Comments on the Smart Card Forum ...

From Consumer Privacy and Smart Cards — A Challenge and an Opportunity ...

... "The consumer should be educated about what a smart card is. A brief description of how smart cards work may be helpful in dealing with consumers. The following may be useful general information in doing that. There are two basic kinds of smart cards. An intelligent smart card contains a microprocessor that actually stores and secures information and makes decisions as required by the card issuer's specific application needs. New information can be added to these cards and processed by the microprocessing unit. Monetary value, for example, can be added or debited as required. The second type of card is better described as a memory card. These cards are primarily information storage cards that contain stored value which the consumer can spend in a pay phone, retail, vending or related transaction. Many of today's prepaid telephone cards are memory cards. In both types of cards, the integrated circuit chip allows the stored information to be protected from damage or theft. " ...