In the growing family of IT devices, the smart card is but an orphan. While desktop PCs, laptops, handhelds and cell phones are more and more linked by the Internet and broadband communication, the lowly chip card speaks a language all its own and sends and receives data at snail-like speeds. The one thing it does better than other devices is security, which makes it a natural for controlling authentication, pay- ment and rights for downloading music, games and videos in an increasingly networked world. But since the smart card requires a burdensome infrastructure of drivers, special hardware and middleware just to communicate with other devices, it risks being bypassed even as the need for data security grows.
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