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What's On Your Hotel Keycard
Lam1969 writes "From Robert Mitchell's blog on Computerworld: '... Wallace, IT director at AAA Reading-Berks in Wyomissing, Penn. has been bringing a card reader with him on business trips to see what's on the magnetic strips of his hotel room access cards. To his dismay, a surprising number have contained his name and credit card information - and in unencrypted form.' " Update: 09/20 19:10 GMT by J : Snopes, as of two months ago, says this is false.
The fact that he read his own information off of the card has to be a DMCA violation - he should get a lawywer now.
Sig? We don't need no stinking sig....
Let's see what the card says: "Housekeeping Notes: Customer uses excessive amounts of Kleenex on overnight stays ..."
HEY!!!
I wonder how much of that data is necessary for the card to work. Perhaps you could get a magstripe writer, scan the card, and re-write only what needs to be there to get the door to open.
Sidenote:
Fun with cards -- Use a reader/writer to exchange the data on different cards. (E.g., swap your gas station card with a retail store card. It's kind of like paying for fast food with $2 bills.)
bytesmythe
Hypocrisy is the resin that holds the plywood of society together.
-- Scott Meyer
Snopes says EVERYTHING is false. A big hurricane in New Orleans? False. Insurgency in Iraq? False. World War 2 is over? False. The earth is round? False.
Yes, I keep my hotel cards after I've checked out and destroy them in a vat of acid, burning the acid vat afterwards, then burrying the chard remains in 9 foot hole to be safe.
Nothing costs nothing
You see them left all over the place in Vegas.
Jackpot!!!
What are you talking about? People don't leave Vegas until they don't have any money left, and all their credit cards are maxed out. You couldn't make a dime off that.