February 06, 2004
Know Your Mole
Posted by nerdling | February 6, 2004 05:05 PM
I tend to be a little bit paranoid about the whispers that come through every now and again about so-called "smart chips" or other technologies that pose a threat to privacy. I have no desire to have all my personal information stored on some centralized media. Call me crazy, but that isn't an acceptable trade-off: some nebulous sense of safety against predators (terrorists, rapists, murderers, pedophiles, car salesmen) in exchange for the surrender of all the information that proves that I exist and am indeed who and what I say I am. Give me a can of pepper spray, my Social Security card and my driver's license and I'll be just fine. Sure, it's more to remember—and that much harder to get it all that way.
So imagine my surprise when I found out that bars—those homes away from home—and other such institutions are able and willing to mine the personal information that is stored on your driver's license. What information, you ask?
Why, the information that they get from the 2D barcode when they swipe your card through a card reader! Once they have it, they can happily collate your data and use you as a marketing tool. Not that that is all that surprising—everyone is trying to market to you, after all—but if the bouncer at your local watering hole can get your information that easily, who else can get it? And if they can get it, what nefarious uses are they putting it to?
I mean, if you're not careful, they could get your bra size and make cupcakes out of your breasts!
