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more on With ID swipe, Big Brother bellies up to the bar
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 13:20:28 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: Michael T Zimmer <michael.zimmer () nyu edu> Date: November 21, 2006 1:04:13 PM EST To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] With ID swipe, Big Brother bellies up to the bar About 8 years ago, before I returned to academia (and, eventually, privacy advocacy), I worked on the development of just such a product for an electronic payment processing company. The idea was to program the credit card payment terminal to accept a drivers license card swipe, read the mag stripe, print out a receipt, and retain a record of the swipe. An important part of the pitch was that by having both a printed and data record of the swipe, the bar/liquor store would have additional proof that they actually checked the patron's id if ever questioned by law enforcement. We also pitched the benefits of collecting zip code and other data (stored on mag stripe) for marketing purposes. The catch, at least back then, was that not all states used mag stripes, most states had different data formats, and others were already moving to 2-d or 3-d bar codes. Alas, the product never got fully off the ground, but VeriFone has something similar: http://www.verifone.com/products/software/valueadded_apps/index.html Today, I shudder at the memory that helped to develop such a system... -michael. ----- Michael T. Zimmer Doctoral Candidate, Culture and Communication, New York University Student Fellow, Information Law Institute, NYU Law School e: michael.zimmer () nyu edu w: http://michaelzimmer.org ----- Original Message ----- From: David Farber <dave () farber net> Date: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 11:49 am Subject: [IP] With ID swipe, Big Brother bellies up to the bar
Begin forwarded message: From: Ed Biebel <edward () biebel net> Date: November 21, 2006 11:39:08 AM EST To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com Subject: With ID swipe, Big Brother bellies up to the bar For IP if you like http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/ news-10/1164091705151690.xml&coll=1 With ID swipe, Big Brother bellies up to the bar Tuesday, November 21, 2006 BY IAN T. SHEARN Star-Ledger Staff It's College Night at KatManDu, a popular Trenton nightclub, and the late-arriving crowd is predictably young. Bouncers pat down male patrons and politely ask for IDs. They swipe everyone's driver's license through a small, yellow electronic box that reads a bar code and instantly displays the customer's age. Club managers love the gadget, and it's rapidly becoming standard issue at the bigger clubs in Manhattan, New Jersey and elsewhere. But the box does more than just check birth dates. It also retains the customer's name, address, license number -- even height, weight and eye color. All that information then can easily be downloaded into a computer system. Most patrons have no idea their information is being electronically stored -- nor are they asked if they mind. "Why do they need it?" asked Tara Fort, a 22-year-old customer from Hamilton Township, who became agitated when told the scanning device was storing personal information. <snip> ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as michael.zimmer () nyu edu To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting- people/
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