The Next Debit Card

[Dubh Aingeal]

Your US driver's license has a magnetic stripe with unique ID in it, and your debit card carries a magnetic stripe with account information on it, so why not link the two together and allow people to use their driver's licenses as debit cards? That's precisely what a young company National Payment Card is doing in select locations, according to Business Week: 'Gas-station owners are pleased with the program too. Because NPC processes the payment as an e-check with the Automated Clearing House (ACH), a network most commonly used for direct deposits, participating retailers bypass credit card companies such as Visa and Mastercard.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I always thought multiple "IDs" were a bit redundant in the electronic age. All you need is one unique identifier and you can link anything you want to it.

[Scary Guy]

I always thought multiple "IDs" were a bit redundant in the electronic age. All you need is one unique identifier and you can link anything you want to it.

Yeah, that could be bad though if they link databases together. National ID card is bad enough. I kind of like having things separate.

[Steven]

I always thought multiple "IDs" were a bit redundant in the electronic age. All you need is one unique identifier and you can link anything you want to it.

yeah, like on your forehead or in your left hand......

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Just about every type of technology has had its abuses and fear of possible abuse. I agree that there is plenty of room for abuse, but i think the positives outweigh the big-brother nightmare scenarios. Technology has been , taken as a whole, a good thing for mankind.

Database convergence happening (and has been since before they were even called databases) and is inevitable. Might as well try and stop the sun from rising.

Might as well focus on the fact of info tech, and work on maximizing the benefits and minimizing the pitfalls.

I wish to god my damn 1000 different doctors could all work from one dataset lol. =)

Hrmm maybe a UPC symbol grafted onto us like in Terminator. Hows that for scary?