From: GERSTEIN@SCSUD.CTSTATEU.EDU
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 94 09:52:58 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: BEST Inc.
Message-ID: <940419125222.20224cb9@SCSUD.CTSTATEU.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



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On Tue, 19 Apr 1994 04:15:01  Thomas Riggley <jester@grex.cyberspace.org> wrote:
>On Mon, 18 Apr 1994, Jeremy Cooper wrote:
>
>> > 
>> > 	I was in a BEST store yesterday, and attempted to pay by check.  They 
>> > asked for ID to verify the check and when I handed them my military ID, they  
>> > asked for my driver's license instead.  I gave them my driver's license and 
>> > they used it and the magnetic strip on the back of it to verify my check.  I 
>> 
>> [stuff deleted]
>> 
>> >From what I know, there is no law that says you have to keep that 
>> magnetic strip up to date.  Just have a little meeting between it and Mr. 
>> Refridgerator magnet and you could end up with some surprising results.
>
>	Is this true? I am a NY state resident. I am under the impression that
>altering either the bar code or the mag strip on the back of my license
>would be as illegal as say changing the picture (Not that this is possible
>in with the new NY licenses).  I do not know the legality behind this but
>I am aware that altering a license in ANYWAY is illegal.  Although what
>you are suggesting is VERY difficult to prove, it is still I would think
>illegal.  Unless anyone has any legal information to the contrary....
>
>	I would also guess that these states that have the mag strips on
>their license also have fines for non-oprative strips.  If they do not, I
>am sure the law will be created so enough!
>		-Tom

For what it's worth, you can de-magnetize anything you want just by going to the 
store. I work at a pharmacy, and they have "inventory control tags" on some of the 
"hotter" items. When someone wants to buy one of these items, we put the tag 
(actually just a magnetized strip) on a special pad that demagnetizes it (and ATM 
and credit cards that are put on it too :))

Also, since I live on a university campus in New Haven, security is a big thing 
here. We now must use ADT keycards as well as physical keys to get into the 
buildings. The first semester they were used, I blitzed three of them just by 
carying it with me all the time. We never found the reason, but I think it has 
something to do with the fact that I'm around computers all day. (Incidentally, 
there were reports of peoples credit cards being wiped by these things as well as 
them setting off theft detectors at record stores).

Just another 0.02 for the pot.....

adam

"After this, nothing will shock me."
----------
"In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich
Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of phone
calls than to preserve the ability of police to conduct wiretaps.
When informed about the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it."
- Philip Elmer-Dewitt, "Who Should Keep the Keys", TIME, Mar. 4, 1994