Originally published February 26 2006
China sets aside large funds for research and development
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
China's State Council has announced that 2.5 percent of the country's gross national product will be spent on research and development over the next fifteen years, to help the country transition from a manufacturing giant to an innovation-driven economy.
suing credit cards in the first place?
Clearly you don't need the physical card in order to complete the transaction, as anyone who has bought something over the phone or the internet knows.
Your bank could just use your driver's license number as an account number.
Security Matters columnist Bruce Schneier Security Matters The same with those airline, hotel and rental car affinity cards.
Or any of the discount cards given out by supermarkets, office supply stores, hardware stores and -- it seems -- everyone else.
They could use any of your existing account numbers.
In fact, if you forget your card, they'll look up your account number if you give them your phone number.
Those involved in computer security will remember the promise of public-key infrastructure, or PKI.
Everyone was going to have a single digital "certificate" that would be accepted by all sorts of different applications.
And today the most far-reaching proposals for national ID cards -- including a recent South African proposal -- envision a world where a single ID would be used for everything.
And neither will a world of biometrics.
But the truth is, neither a national ID nor a biometric system will ever replace the decks of plastic and paper that crowd our wallets.
For starters, the uniqueness of the cards provides important security to the issuers.
Everyone has different rules for card issuance, expiration and revocation, and everyone wants to be in control of their own cards.
If you lose control, you lose security.
So airline clubs ask for a photo ID with your membership card, and merchants want to see it when you use your credit card, but neither will replace their cards with that photo ID.
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