Todd Seal wrote: > Ah, yes! The smart card! That's what I'm thinking of when I think of > sitting at a public computer for personal use. > > What's the danger, though, in losing one of those cards? Think of how > easy it is to lose a file on your computer. Isn't that problem > compounded when you have a card that can get dirt in it, can be > stolen, can melt in the heat, etc.? For a farmer, that card could > become useless very quickly depending on the situation and the care > emplyed in preserving the card. Doesn't that smart card become another > piece of technology that must be explained and understood? For someone > unused to using a computer, does a smart card simply represent yet > another thing to learn about? I'm just thinking out loud, here. > Well, the SmartCards are encrypted, so losing data is the real issue. While losing a SmartCard is well in the realm of possibility, my personal perspective on people who don't have much is that they don't lose things very often. I can almost see the smartcard, carefully wrapped in plastic and kept in a cool place whereas a lot of people on the other end of the Divide may toss them around with disdain.
But if they do lose it? Well, then they'll learn the value of the SmartCard, just as many of us have learned the hard way about backing up our data. That's one thing that has to be learned the hard way at times. You don't know the value of your data until you lose it. USB memory sticks are another option as well. The Chiki sticks available through Amida have a similar purpose, and with PGP encryption available, they are comparably secure in this context. Personally, I think if poor people start misplacing electronic equipment, we're making an odd form of progress within this context. And, knocking on wood, I'm now backing up my valuable files to my USB stick.... -- Taran Rampersad Presently in: Panama City, Panama [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Taran "Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
