At long last, the local monopoly of the incumbent telecom operators is about to be demolished. The safety of electronic cash cards is a question raging among computer security experts around the world, especially after word went out recently on the Internet that the Mondex computer chip had been cracked. However, Mondex International denies that the security of their chip has been compromised and insists that the smart cards are a safe and convenient alternative to cash. Unlike bank, credit and debit cards, Mondex cards are almost like cash because customers load value on to them and this electronic sum can be spent at stores, pay phones and restaurants. Bank verification over phone lines is not needed.
Customers can even exchange E-cash between themselves from one card to another.
This cuts down on infrastructure costs for authorization but means security must be confined to the microchip embedded in the card. AOL TV America Online is planning to redesign its services to look more like television, in hopes that the move will attract two to three million additional AOL subscribers, as well as additional advertisers. We've used channels for some time because it makes it easier to find things. The secret to 'Deep Blue' was that it was able to make millions of calculations very, very rapidly. We formed a group three months ago to figure out what we could do to work with customers around the world to put ourselves back into this business.