FINAL WARNING: The Curtain Falls
display screen, yet is only slightly larger than a credit card. Instead of
a magnetic strip, it is imbedded with an integrated circuit chip for the
storage of information, and it can be updated each time the card is
used. With this card, a person could shop, bank, and receive social
services; and it could be used to store their medical history, Social
Security records and other personal information. It eliminates credit
card fraud because there is no number on it. However, since the chip
card costs between $20-$50 to produce, and the magnetic strip only
costs 60¢ to produce; and most electronic systems have already been
set up for the magnetic strip, it is unlikely that the industry will convert.In the April, 1980 edition of Business Week, there was an
advertisement for National Cash Register, for the financial (cashless)
terminals, which featured a card called the “Worldwide Money Card”
which they said will replace all the world’s currencies. Another
advertisement in the November 5, 1981 edition of the Wall Street
Journal read: “A new banking era has begun and Citibank invites you
to be in the forefront ... A global system linking every major city in
America to a bank with a financial service network that circles the
entire world.” Dr. Emil Gaverluk (who has a doctorate in Educational
Technology and is an expert in Communications Science), of the
Southwest Radio Church, said: “The next card beyond Visa’s stage will
be a universal card, and will probably be issued out of Europe. It will
be issued to all industrialized nations and they’ll tell you this is the
best card you’ve ever had in your life ... the next stage after that is the
number on the forehead or hand.”Paper currency and checks will be phased out in lieu of debit cards,
and the plan seems to be for debit cards to be converted to the
International Card, as all the nations do away with their monetary
systems to do business through computers. But people will lose their
card, or have it stolen, or accidentally mutilate it. You have probably
noticed that the magnetic strip on your credit cards does not hold up
well. The constant rubbing against each other, and against your wallet,
causes scratches and drop outs on the strips which can not be read by
scanners. These arguments will result in numbers being lasered
directly on the body.Professor B. A. Hodson, director of the Computer Center at the
University of Manitoba, had recommended an identifying mark to be