Another topic frequently discussed with smart cards is the issue of privacy. People are concerned that big brother is watching and with a card that does everything, it would be easy for the government to keep an eye on people. For this reason, a single identification chip is probably the wrong direction to go in. The flip side to this argument is that people and actions can already be tracked through regular credit card purchases, etc. Also, people often voluntarily give out social security numbers and other personal information.
Smart cards are currently further along on the maturity curve than biometrics.
Biometrics are still viewed as being somewhat exotic and an invasion of privacy. People seem to be more comfortable with card security. Some believe it is only a matter of when, not if, smart card technology will be fully realized. Dataquest further states that the applications for smart cards will expand to perform identification and security functions in computing and Internet access. It appears highly likely that the use of smart cards will become the norm over the next few years.