Press release 04/05

Furtwangen, 16.03.2005 – This is prescribed by the current Youth Protection Act.
This is ensured, for example, by the fact that cigarettes can only be purchased from vending machines using a cash card.
This means that the days when children and young people could buy harmful cigarettes with a few euros are finally over.
If the kids are under 16, they will receive a corresponding message on the vending machine display and will not be given any tobacco products.
To ensure that youth protection works smoothly in the near future, around 30 million EC and bank cards have already been equipped with a “youth protection feature”.
“This feature performs two functions: legally compliant proof of age on the Internet and at cigarette vending machines,” explains Carsten Sommer, Managing Director of REINER SCT and member of the GeldKarte campaign alliance.
The date of birth stored on the chip is used to determine the authorization status and access is granted or denied depending on the result.
The GeldKarte for age verification is secure and anonymous: the age feature is stored encrypted in the chip.
When the feature is queried, no data is stored in the machine or on the Internet.
A chip card reader will soon be required to check the youth protection feature on the Internet.
This is because if someone wants to access a youth-protected website in future, the so-called age verification system (AVS) will first switch on and require an age check.
This is easily passed by inserting the relevant chip card into the appropriate card reader.
If you are identified as being of legal age, you will be granted access to the desired website.
Chip card readers (security class 3), which are used here, are particularly secure and are also approved by the German banking industry for GeldKarte payments.
These have a keypad and a display and enable direct communication between the chip card and the card reader.
The PC remains outside and is protected against viruses, Trojans and worms.
“We are convinced by the new regulations for the protection of young people and are pleased to have supported the project right from the start,” says Carsten Sommer. (The text comprises approx. 2,500 characters)