Re: stored value cards in NYC - Motorola PR fluff.

[dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)]

John R Levine <johnl@iecc.com> writes:

> > Anybody on the list know more about this project?  ("...one of the largest
> > and most exciting..." :-)  The puff piece has some contact info, but I don'
> > expect to get anything useful from them.
> 
> This could be interesting.  NYC already has stored value cards called
> Metrocards which you can use for subway and bus fares.  The MTA has tried
> with little success to get newsstands and other vendors of low-price high
> volume stuff to take them.  Physically they're just thin plastic cards with
> the usual magnetic stripe, nothing fancy.  They permit variable sized
> decrements and are rechargable, so their design must be reasonably
> sophisticated.

They suck.  I'm sticking to tokens.

> 
> I read somewhere in an account of an NYC hackerfest that the Metrocards 
> have been subjected to intense hacking but they apparently remain secure.

They can't be all that secure... Bruce Schneier helped design the crypto.
Schneier is to cryptography that Schildt is to C programmin.

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<a href="mailto:dlv@bwalk.dm.com">Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM</a>
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps