A Card That Asks For ID

By Sora Song

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 the card on and generates a unique one-time-only transaction code. For approval, that code has to synch with an algorithm run by the credit-card company's computer. The smart card isn't on the market yet, but its inventors hope it will someday replace all traditional credit cards. IBM plans to license the technology. --By Sora Song