The central elements of an ID card system have been the same for a while now - computer, printer, cards, camera, cables, as well as the security features a card can have - holographic overlay, magnetic stripes, RFID antennas, smart card chips, bar codes. Most of the ID card machines available today are able to produce these kinds of security measures easily and at high rates.

A unique ID card program in Fayetteville, NC is helping the homeless find an identity, and in some cases, much more. The program was launched by Officer Tracy Swinton of the Fayetteville Police Department in 2005. Swinton realized that without proper identification, the city’s homeless men and women are essentially anonymous. It’s difficult for them to get decent jobs, gain acceptance to shelters, enroll in classes, and certainly impossible to open any sort of bank account. But since the program’s inception, members of Fayetteville’s homeless community have used their ID cards to achieve all of those things.

Traditionally, RFID use has been limited to two distinct areas - tracking and access control. A popular tool for tracking shipments and bulk orders, manufacturers and shippers put RFID chips in stored merchandise in order to make shipping and package movement more efficient and less wasteful. More secure RFID chips embedded in employee ID cards are helpful in ensuring access control in secure and sensitive work environments.

In what just might be an industry first, Acea Spa, Rome’s supplier of water and electricity, has introduced an identification card for the city’s water. The purpose of the card is to reassure locals that the tap water and drinking fountains in Rome are safe. The card contains information regarding the chemical contents and cleanliness of the water.

In 2004, when the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) was issued, a shot was fired that started the race to create the next generation of government ID cards. The directive requires that all federal employees and contractors carry a secure ID that works across all government agencies, and functions for the purpose of both access control as well as logistical applications such as logging onto computers. It’s estimated that HDPD-12-compliant forms of ID will eventually be carried by upwards of 4 million federal employees and tens of millions of contractors.

69% of Irish 16 and 17-year olds have admitted to underage drinking, and in a response, the Irish government is issuing a voluntary tamper-proof ID card, with plans to eventually make it compulsory.

Many organizations are now using contactless, multifunctional smart cards as their preferred method of identification. These cards are capable of holding a significant amount of personal and company information and can be utilized for a wide variety of applications, for instance controlling access to buildings, computers and networks. While there are many benefits to having so much information and functionality in a single card, skeptics feel such cards are susceptible to skimming, and potential identity theft.