Smartcard FAQs
Q. What is a smart card?
A. A smart card is a plastic card, the size of a credit card, but with a small microchip embedded in it. This microchip can be more or less powerful; depending on the services you wish the card to access.
Q. What can the smart card be used for?
A. The services can range from simple leisure club membership, to the renewal of library books, to payment for school meals or transport. With the addition of a photograph, the card can become a 'proof of age card' for young people. Depending on the power and memory on the card chip it can also store much, more information as the applications it serves may require.
Q. What is an e-Purse?
A. An e-Purse is an electronic purse that can store a cash value. When goods or services are paid for, the card can be used instead of cash as payment. It is inserted/swiped in a reader at the point of sale and the value of the purchase is deducted from the purse in the card. Additional funds can be loaded onto the card at cash loading points (similar to ATMs) or by a variety of other means as determined by the application(s). Extra security can be provided by the use of a PIN number.
Q. Is it secure?
A. A smart card is much more difficult to copy or duplicate than the magnetic stripe cards which we are all familiar with (i.e. credit cards, debit cards etc.) The chip inside it contains complex encryption and data security modules that are virtually impossible to decode.
Q. What's the point of it all?
A. The Government is making it clear that it expects smart cards to be an essential part of 'Information Age Government' and as the guidelines issued to Local Authorities in the summer of 2000 stated:…"the Government regards the deployment of smart cards, including multi-function cards, as a key enabler to the development of electronic commerce and recognises that Government applications can act as a key driver towards 'critical mass'." The Government is clear in its message that all Local Authorities should be working towards the implementation of multi-purpose smart cards.
Q. What practical benefits does it bring to the user?
A. A single card can, in theory, replace most of the pieces of plastic which most of the public carry around in their wallets and purses. One card for library membership, leisure activities, cash purchases, cashless vending, personal and secure authentication, concessionary travel, loyalty discounts, the applications are numerous.
