Washington University in St. Louis has recently enacted a policy that requires students, faculty and staff to present their student ID cards when entering the Olin Library and the attached Whispers Cafe after 9PM.

These days, the typical student ID card carries much more than a name and photo. For students enrolled at Ireland's Mary Immaculate College, the cards now provide access to campus buildings, dormitories, and their dorm rooms. The college recently installed a proximity card access control system that involves wall readers, IP-based door locks, and other integrated security features, all operating across a single network. To gain access to campus buildings, students must now hold their student IDs up to special proximity card reader. The cards provide convenience, enhanced security, and completely eliminate the need to carry physical keys.

From Missouri to Utah, parents are learning that it never hurts to be too cautious. Last year’s infamous Michael Devlin kidnapping and child abuse case has spurred a resurgence of child identification database and ID card creation in Missouri, where Devlin held Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby captive in his Kirkwood, MO apartment. While Hornbeck and Ownby were fortunate enough to escape with their lives, the abuse they suffered has left parents wondering what they can do to protect their children—or, at the very least, help get them home safely and quickly—from the nightmare of child abduction.

Blackboard Communications Systems, a networking tool used by universities and learning institutions around the globe, announced that it has joined forces with Sony to produce contactless student ID card systems in the United States. Blackboard is an online teaching aid, in which students and professors may share information, lecture notes, upload assignments and communicate online. Now, Blackboard is venturing into the security business. The multi-functional cards Blackboard plans to develop would combine access, data and security systems. These state-of-the-art ID cards would function as debit cards, building entrance cards, class schedule data devices and more. Professors may even use the cards as a way to take attendance for classes.

In a shocking blow for Chicago O'Hare's reputation, federal and local law enforcement officials arrested 24 illegal workers they suspect were using fake security badges to work in restricted areas of the O'Hare airport. The badges were actually real, but deactivated O'Hare ID cards, and police are at a loss to explain how workers still managed to gain access to sensitive areas with the non-functioning cards. Police also apprehended two managers at Ideal Staffing Solutions, Inc., the temp agency that hired illegal immigrants knowingly and provided them with the false IDs, which gave them access to purportedly secure areas around O'Hare. Most of the workers loaded freight for companies doing business with O'Hare-- including commercial airlines.

Students, faculty and staff at universities nationwide have been making the switch from social security numbers to 9 digit ID numbers for several years - now it's time for UW-Madison to trade in their cards. Some 9,000 professors, instructors and other university faculty will be turning in their old ID cards in exchange for a new one that features a 9 digit identifying ID number instead of the traditional social security number.

HID Global announced today that it has joined forces with Dynamic Card Solutions to develop and launch CardWizard FCP 20/20, an instant issuance system for printing financial cards. CardWizard FCP 20/20 works using the same high definition printing technology found in Fargo's line of HDP ID card printers. Fargo's high definition printing process enables users of the system to produce sophisticated, full-color cards on the fly, with sophisticated security features and high definition graphics.

Zona Systems, a Seattle-based company, has developed an RFID-based system that aims to enhance security for children making bus trips to and from school. Using RFID technology, the new ZPass system makes it possible to identify when a student boards or exits the school bus. Each student is issued a unique RFID card. A special reader on the bus recognizes the card, even if it's kept in the student's wallet or backpack. No waiving or swiping of the card is required. The system provides parents and school officials with peace of mind by tracking each child's daily journey.

The United Arab Emirates is the newest country in a long line of nations to establish a national ID card program. National ID cards help identify citizens and also may guarantee services like healthcare, or serve as a driver's license. The difference with the new UAE national ID card? ATM functionality.

Jefferson County employees in Beaumont, TX, are getting used to carrying their new employee ID cards. The cards, the first phase of a new county security plan passed last August, have a data chip (like the HID iClass) inside the card that stores personal data like name, date of hire, and departmental information.

For companies looking to hire a new employee, the process is often the same. First the resumes, then the interviews and narrowing down of the potential candidates. The last step could possibly be the most important one - the background check - companies have traditionally turned to internet databases that can either show the potential employee as nothing but hireable or the exact opposite. Problem is, many of these online databases are incomplete, giving employers only a partial picture of the applicant's past. Now, an Arizona-based company called CrimShield offers companies and organization a full sweep of an applicant's background - with a twist. When the employee has been approved by CrimShield's fine-toothed combs, they're given a customized ID badge.