The Anti-Bank: the privatized delivery of social grants using biometric encrypted smart-cards in southern Africa

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• Keith Breckenridge, Professor of History and Internet Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
• Tuesday 04 December 2007, 16:15-17:15
• Lecture Theatre 2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Andrew Lewis.

The South African company Net1 / Aplitec has filled the space left by the collapse of the HANIS smart card. Currently some 13 million people receive monthly grants using biometrically authenticated smart-cards. Aplitec have also built up a system of point-of-sale, microlending and insurance products that deliberately challenge the EMV system. The Aplitec encryption system uses a biometric key to encrypt card data—it is strictly proprietary, and deliberately incompatible with the banking infrastructure. (Serge Belamont, the spirit behind Aplitec, designed the SASWITCH interbank switch in the early 1980s). The company is listed on the NASDAQ , with a current market capitalization of about R10 billion. All of its revenues are taken from the welfare system.

This talk is part of the Computer Laboratory Security Seminar series.

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