Discussion
NFC is a technology for communicating between 2 devices making contact. Notably NFC devices don't necessarily require their own power, things like credit cards or passports can leach power off the NFC scanner.
In many ways NFC is strictly worse than Bluetooth Low Energy, but the highly limited 4cm range does greatly improve the usability of pairing!
The way it works isn't dissimilar to a transformer: Bring 2 solenoids together & the scanner can sense the electrical load placed upon it!
1/3?
I read that NFC includes a NFC Data Exchange Format protocol allowing NFC devices to be read like a ROM chip.
Bringing this back to my planned dumbphone... I can have the firmware load the file or contact or viewer into an NFC chip, & expose a UI for the data it has read via it.
This is an existing protocol, so compatible devices should exist. Even if they're not smartphones.
If this file is cryptographically-signed (with a nonce) & it can serve as an event ticket or loyalty card.
2/3?
Cryptographic signatures allow an organization to verify (without involving the internet) that all the details in a digital file were issued by themselves, & that you haven't altered it. It doesn't guarantee that the file hasn't been copied, though serial numbers (or as cryptographers call them, "nonces") or photographs can give most organizations the guarantees they need.
As for banks, they need stronger guarantees...
3/4!
For the sake banks it should be reasonable for a dumbphone to prove that a specific device was scanned. I might be seeing signs that mobile carriers need this anyways.
This requires hardware which can securely store cryptographic keys & use them to sign communications without any possibility of leaking that data. A "Hardware Security Module".
Arguably this is DRM, but extremely limited use.
The bigger question is: Can I get banks to trust me?
And what protocol would they want me to use?
4/4!
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