I have a Gemplus smart card I need to read (not copy!) I do know they are French made, and that the company sells USB card readers. I have absolutely no data on the type of card I have, it just says the manufacturer name, period. It is not used in a high security situation, it's a lab machine data card. I know Gemplus do a lot of high security type stuff, but wonder if a typical card from them in industrial use is likely to be significantly encrypted, there is no point forking out for the reader if I'm going to get nowhere. Any informed guesses appreciated. Also any companies out there that ca look inside such smart cards, wouldn't rule out contracting this out.
BE CAREFUL! If you are in the United States, be aware that satellite TV companies have successfully extorted fines from people on the customer list of smartcard reader vendors on the logic that "the only thing you could use this for is stealing TV service". If you intend to buy a reader, create a temporary identity for yourself and buy the item on eBay, and get it shipped to a company address. This isn't foolproof of course, but it protects you from at least simple data mining operations.
(Personally, I would pay NOT to receive TV service in my home).
Gosh, that's incredible, a sweeping legal presumption. Heck you could be just making a backup copy for legitimate use to access an a/c you have paid for. Not an issue in this case I hasten to add, the card is most definitely not from a TV box, and not used for any sort of online service access - it's a smart card and lab machine that I own personally that are involved here.
If you mean a smart card, like the one I have in my camera, then you should be able to plug it into any card reader. If it appears to be blank, then it may be formatted for an OS that you aren't using (IOW, a card formatted for Linux wouldn't be visible on a Windows machine, while Linux and Macs can read just about any format).
My reader is internal, but if I were doing what you are trying to do, then I would use an external reader, so that I could move it between different types of machines.
What ever you do, don't let a format happen. What I mean is, if a message pops up and tells you that there is no data, or that the data is corrupt, say NO, if you are asked if you want to format the card. It may contain encrypted information which only seems to be corrupt data.
I use these cards for much more than transporting photo's, I can also boot an OS with them. If you meant some other sort of card, then I'm sorry for wasting space here. I don't know a thing about satellite/cable TV boxes.
According to this article:
formatting link
"Gemplus Smartcard Drivers Are Not Included in Windows Server 2003". It goes on to say that you must contact Gemplus for the proprietary drivers, and I have no doubt that this is done to help ensure against funny business.
Good luck, you might be able to find a machine with one of these readers already installed. Explain your problem, and try for some mercy.
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