Various enhancements are made to using smart cards that are associated
with (or to be associated with) a household. In one embodiment, data that
is expected to be of value to a user (e.g., electronic money) is attached
to that user's smart card(s), thereby providing an incentive for the user
to keep his or her smart card(s) secure. In another embodiment, the smart
cards are used for parental control (e.g., by restricting the children's
access to one or more of the smart cards). In yet another embodiment,
smart cards are used to enhance user privacy by maintaining user-specific
information on the smart cards (which can be de-coupled from the
computing device whenever the user desires). In another embodiment, the
boundaries of a network of computing devices are defined by multiple
smart cards--any computing device to which a smart card is coupled is
part of the network.