[X] My Assistant

[Ol' Scratch]

1) If they were so bleeding convenient and superior to a card, we'd be using 'em today. But full pen-sized plastic sticks (SR3 p. 238) aren't convenient, they aren't comfortable in your pocket, and they are relatively fragile in that shape and size.

2) Credsticks include way more than what you're saying. They include everything about you, right down to your medical history and all of your vital information -- someone can steal one, break it open, and have everything they need (including signatures and retinal/palm/fingerprints... even your DNA information and passwords if you were stupid enough to add them) to do whatever they want in your name. They also include all of your transactions, all of your permits, all of your licenses, all of your contracts, and everything else along those lines.

Having them all on a single awkward, easily-stolen/lost, easily-broken stick is just a horrible, horrible idea all around. The shape of a credstick alone offers nothing over the already well-established credit card shape, won't fit in a wallet, and (again) is relatively fragile in the described shape and size.

They also can't function as any type of ID without having to slot it, so just flashing one won't work -- you have to slot it and thus offer up allll of your personal information just to get into a nightclub, buy some booze, or anything else that requires an ID check.

A universal ID is a good idea. A universal credit card is a good idea. A universal medical card is a good idea. Combining them all into one is a horrible idea. Especially if you change it into a useless friggin' stick.

[DarkShade]

no it is not a debit card..
they just added it to the same bank card you usually have to keep costs low and to try to increase acceptance, but it is a separate system.
the difference is this, when you pay with a debit card you identify yourself, & basically give an authorisation for money to be taken from your account into that other persons account. you can later see in your receipts where it went to etc etc.. fully traceable.

the chipknip is intended to replace loose change, cash in general.
with this you identify yourself ONCE, you need to go to an atm to recharge it, you identify yourself because you are recharging it from your bank account, however, once the cash is `in the card` it is no longer linked to your bank account or to your person in any way.
lets say you `recharged 100 euros in your chipknip..
if you lose the card you LOSE the 100 euros. this is NOT like a debit card.
if the card is stolen the 100 euros are stolen. nothing you can do about it, nothing gets transferred out of any accounts, the little card knows how much money it has and spends until it is empty. the only trace that there is at the moment is that you know who put the money in the card, not who spends it, there is no link whatsoever with any bank account after it has been recharged , if your account gets closed, you get labelled most wanted criminal nr 1 and all your accounts get closed, that card will still work until it runs out of whatever money you put into it..

DS

[Kremlin KOA]

hell they have certified cred (prepaid chipknips) my thought is get me a prepaid, a programming suite and a smart card encoder

[Edward]

You’ll probably need a scanning electron microscope to crack those chipknip cards.

The biggest problem with any form of card cash (assuming you can secure them from forgery) is no reader transactions. Every shop that takes EFT or credit cards has a supply of manual vouchers for when the system goes down (and it dose). Most people still use cash so they can lend their mate $20 or just to avoid transaction fees (I get 8 free a month I think).

As to durability I doubt you could break a credstick if you tried. I see them being about the size of a cigarette lighter probably with a key ring attachment and made out of solid plastic (with a couple of imbedded chips). It would take a real effort to break one. If that was instead of a wallet (including all your ID, cards, licenses) it would be quite convenient. Most clothing would likely come with a specially designed pocket just the right size.

Cash is still better however for anything small and below the law. 200 ucas dollars in cash will more likely be taken as a bribe than a 220 nuyen credstick transfer because the one receiving it doesn’t have a credstick that won’t have it show up on all the reports. And getting certified credsticks can be a pain in the but. This is listed under the reasons why the J might be paying you in some other form of currency.

Edward

[Backgammon]

Actually, I don't see why implanting your credstick into yourself isn't a popular option. CREDSTICK, it's everywhere you want to be!

[Nikoli]

Kremlin, the hard part with that concept is each of those cards is encoded with a unique identifier, the system sees the ID and the money. the ID of the card is tracked to prevent such fraud.
Bank Emp. 1: "Gee, card 87A45hA has spent over $10,000"
Bank Emp. 2: "What's so odd about that?"
Bank Emp. 1: "Well, when it was issued, it had $100 and hasn't been recharged since."
Bank Emp. 2: "I'll start pulling footage from the stores where it's been used."

[Stumps]

Cash: Great for the dirty deeds.
Credstick: Great for creating false identities (and spending money that's not yours :D)

If a credstick is a pen-size object, I'd lose it WAY too often.

A smoother system would be a ring that only acts to grant you access to a system that is the worlds trust of credit. (yeah right)

Credsticks in my game are debit card/credit card/check cards with a micro-data link on the chip on the card for those "stick-to-stick" moments.

But the credstick always sat right next to the pocket-secretary in my book of making sense.

[Nikoli]

In SR terms, they do that sort of checking, what makes a good falsified credstick is the team of deckers that make false entries to show normal activity.

[DarkShade]

actually in shadowrun you wouldnt need identifiers.. just an encryption hard enough that it would be more difficult to counterfeit than it would be for the equivalent amount of bank notes..
sidenote: it is not that difficult to use really high or odd encryption on this type of transaction as it doesnt need to be super-fast, hey if the quantum physicists get it together they might even have the holy grail , completely unbreakable encryption, by 2064 :)

DS

[Stumps]

If we're going to play with quantum physics why not toss out the idea of making an encryption and sticking it in a digital black hole?
No entrance to it.
No exit to it.
No readout from it.
The only thing you'd be able to notice is that there's "nothing" there.

[bitrunner]