Black Card
The black card, officially known as the Operative Permissive Authority Device (OPAD), is a matte black smart card with no discernible markings which is issued to Strategic Intelligence Office (SIO) field agents. As part of the Gamma-classified capability SLUICEGATE, it allows agents to assert authority over a wide range of technological systems designed to support the capability in cooperation with Raven. The capability is maintained by the Tailored Access Systems section of the Black Research Special Technology Unit (BRL-17).
For example, when used at a public terminal on a space station, it allows agents to immediately power up any attached wormhole relay and place a call regardless of the next activation window. It can also be used to bypass facility access control systems and enable special override modes on consumer-oriented devices and systems that allow asserting complete administrator and/or engineering control over them. For example, a PDA could be configured to transmit much higher than its regulatory limits, or on protected frequencies, and safety guardrails on industrial systems can be bypassed entirely, allowing for completely unrestricted operation.
Security
OPADs are strictly controlled, and PIN-protected. Three failed attempts bricks the device. They are designed to be usable for a finite amount of time, usually a week, after which they must be reinserted into a special terminal that renews their cryptographic authority certificate by communicating with systems at Black Mountain. They are highly illegal to trade or sell under Sections 7 and 8 of the Dimensional Security Accords, but on one notable occasion a misplaced OPAD ended up sold on the black market, the buyer of which was later raided and the card recovered.
Politics
OPAD capabilities are only possible because Raven has the ability to issue corporations in Dimensional Security Accords signatory countries with Special Access Requests in the name of exosecurity. These secret orders compel corporations to effectively build backdoors into their products when Raven deems it necessary. However, products built in countries that are non-signatories, such as the Thames Republic, are not subject to these requests, and as such, for example, PDAs built by InterTeck have no such backdoors.