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Jewish World Review Feb. 8, 2001 / 15 Shevat, 5761
Richard Horn
http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- The Navy might issue smart cards, which could become a combination ID, debit card and personnel file. Sailors wandering into the ship's store for shampoo or a bag of Cheetos in the near future won't need cash, they'll just need to have their "cyber identity" handy. It's called a smart card, and Navy officials hope to have one in every sailors' pocket in the years ahead, creating what they're calling "cash-lite ships." But the vision goes way beyond just using smart cards as glorified credit cards. Ultimately, everyone in the Navy and reserves will be issued a single card containing name, rank, service record information and even some health data. They'll be used for everything from transactions to reporting to a new command to entering secured areas and logging onto the Navy computer network. "Right now, we have all these different cards - we have an ID card, we have badges to get into certain buildings, we have access cards," said Lt. Jane Alexander, a Navy spokeswoman. "All that's going to be compiled onto one card." This cyber identity, as the Navy calls it, promises to slash paperwork and the accounting workload, especially for ships at sea, officials say. A pilot program, NavyCash, will include a still-to-be-selected aircraft carrier and frigate, according to Funge Systems Inc., a smart card developer in Virginia. Smart cards, terminal readers and software will be installed on the ships to replace most crewmember cash transactions, company leaders said. The NavyCash card also will have the capabilities of a MasterCard magnetic strip debit card accepted almost anywhere in the world.
"The benefits to crew members will be security and convenience," a
Funge Systems spokeswoman said. "Sailors and Marines on-board
will have 24-hour access to their funds wherever they are in the
world; they can move money into their accounts for shipboard
Richard Horn writes for The Sun in Bremerton, Wash. Comment by clicking here.
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