Providian hosted an Investor Conference today. Slides and an audio replay are available.

The Smart Card Alliance has released a new white paper, Privacy and Secure Identification Systems: The Role of Smart Cards as a Privacy-Enabling Technology.

"Smart cards provide a powerful tool for protecting an individual's privacy," said Robert Donelson, senior property manager of the Bureau of Land Management at the Department of Interior (DOI). "For those who have access to private information, smart cards ensure only legitimate users can access information, and they can only access the information they need to do a specific task. Other information that may be in the system can be kept confidential. Of course, privacy must be protected throughout the system, not just at the card level."

Concord EFS announced this morning that Dan Palmer and Bond Isaacson will be co-CEO's going forward. In addition, Richard Kiphart is replacing Palmer as Chairman of the Board. Ed Labry remains president.