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Executive Director's Letter
 Dear members and friends of the Alliance:
This month's letter covers two different industry experiences to give you some idea of the variety of smart-card-related happenings that I have had the privilege to witness and help shape.
In the last week of June, I traveled to Sydney, Australia, to participate in an international smart card conference, called Australia Smart Card Summit. Part of my purpose for traveling "down under" for this event was to speak about the North American smart card market and particularly about our adoption of contactless technology for payments and identity credentialing. An added benefit that resulted from my visit was a personal invitation to meet with Joseph Hockey, the Australian Minister of Human Services, and his staff, who are leading the Australian government's effort to replace 17 different government service identification cards with a single smart card that will be issued to approximately 14 million Australians. This new identification card is not a national ID card, but rather an access card, similar to a supercharged version of our U.S. Social Security card, that would be used to access a wide range of government services and payments. Minister Hockey delivered his public comments at the conference and laid out the vision of his $2 billion program, which has also been attacked by privacy advocates and government critics in the press. Rarely have I met such a well-spoken, convincing advocate for the benefits of smart card technology. Such a person also holding so high an office in government was even more enlightening.
Our closed meeting was more directed toward the smart card industry as a whole. The Minister's first question to me was: "Why isn't the Smart Card Alliance here in Australia?" I thought my response would correct a misunderstanding of the Alliance roots as a North American organization, but his question went much deeper than that. What he really wanted to know was why the smart card industry isn't standing up in the media and strongly advocating the technology to its government representatives – a similar criticism expressed by some government leaders here in the United States. He went on to challenge our industry to raise its visibility and influence in the public debate about using smart cards to reduce fraud and improve government services.
So my fellow smart card industry leaders, here is new call to action! Our smart card industry operates in a global economy and is increasingly affected by public policy as countries adopt new security technology to enable governments to achieve one person – one identity. Enabling eGovernment services to millions of government workers and citizens who would benefit from these programs is the same whether you are living and working in Australia, United Kingdom, Western Europe, Canada or the United States. So get active in your industry groups or as individuals and stand up to the vocal minority who oppose progress in advancing secure identity on the grounds that it will infringe on civil liberty and privacy. Educate your local government officials and pool your resources to lobby for the responsible use of secure smart card chip technology for all identity and payments applications. The nature of the political process at this level is that failure will mean that smart cards are dead for many years to come. No politician wants the baggage of a previous failed card initiative to weigh down their efforts to implement similar reforms in the future. So get behind your government leaders and show them that the smart card industry can be a strong voice for a more secure and efficient government that doesn't trample on the rights and privacy of its citizens.
In other news, I attended the big announcement in New York City last week launching the MasterCard PayPass, Citibank, and Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) pilot. In this pilot, Citibank customers can use contactless prepaid account cards or credit card keychain fobs to enter subway turnstiles at select stations in the Manhattan subway system. This pilot breaks new ground on two important levels. The first is the crossover between the transit payments market and the financial payment card market; this is significant since the two industry transaction models have been so different in the past. The second is the transit fare payment model embracing an account-based solution for fare processing compared to the on-card application-based model common in the transit industry today. The combination of both the industry crossover and model change at one time is akin to the scene in the movie "Ghostbusters," when they "cross beams" for the first time despite one of the Ghostbusters saying "you never cross the beams!" This pilot is proving that another challenge has been overcome and another lesson has been learned about smart cards – which is to "never say never."
With the Smart Card Alliance Annual Conference coming up in October, it is time to consider who will be the 2006 OSCA Winners. The Outstanding Smart Card Achievement Awards (OSCA) in 2005 went to Chase Bank for its 'blink' card program and to Robbie Brandewie of the Department of Defense, who recently celebrated a well-earned retirement. Nomination forms for this year's OSCA awards are due by August 18 th. For more information, go to the OSCA Awards information web page. Also visit Next Events for information about the Annual Conference in San Diego on October 3 – 6, 2006, and online event registration.
Speaking of web sites, I am happy to announce that there will be big improvements coming soon for the Smart Card Alliance web site. We are kicking off a major upgrade for the site that will better support member information, industry resources, reports and white papers, and news announcements and also make improvements in site navigation and content. The project should be completed in a few months.
Good news (or bad) – only six more weeks left before school begins again! Enjoy what is left of the summer.
Randy Vanderhoof, Executive Director
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