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.

DMCA

[senducemhere]

The fact that he read his own information off of the card has to be a DMCA violation - he should get a lawywer now.

I have a card reader ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's see what the card says: "Housekeeping Notes: Customer uses excessive amounts of Kleenex on overnight stays ..." HEY!!!

According to every "investigative" news team...

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

...in the country that owns a UV light, I imagine the answer has something to do with semen.

Necessary data

[bytesmythe]

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.)

Re:Necessary data

[AeroIllini]

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.)

An interesting social experiment: rewrite your old, expired credit card with the mag information from the new card, and see how many cashiers notice. Better yet, use a card that expired years ago (this experiment will take a little longer to do). Usually, if the authorization goes through on the cash register, the cashiers don't care. Most places don't even check signatures anymore.

Re:Magnetic Money Clip

[Anonymous Coward]

Luxury!

I use magnets that I ripped from dead hard drives, and I likes it that way.

Re:This is why...

[superpulpsicle]

Well after they saw the stain on my card, the hotel clerk said PLEASE keep it.

Re:Remember the security indoors too.

[Anonymous Coward]

Dammit Bob, I told you - it was an accident!!

Re:Yeah, please make it easier to spend money...

[pnice]

They keep a ton of information on those cards I think. I went to Disney World for my honeymoon and we were given 25 of those magical wishes. You could just take your room key to Planet Hollywood, Rain Forest Cafe or any of those places at Downtown Disney and tell them you wanted to use a magical wish for your meal. Then you could get anything on the menu as long as it was one appetizer one main course and one desert, tip was included. We ate surf and turf almost every night.

It would also work if you were supposed to get free gifts with your trip and it worked for the fast pass machines (where it kept track of the last time you used a fast pass machine anywhere in the park).

New TV Drama Hook

[geomon]

I'm sure it is just a matter of time before this plot angle shows up in an episode of Law and Order. Other urban myths have been incorporated into that series in past scripts (i.e., kidney harvesting).

Re:Snopes claims this to be false

[fnj]

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.

Tin foil hat time

[smallguy78]

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.

Usage

[genetik]

"What's On Your Hotel Keycard"

My hotel keycard has the little logo graphic of the hotel on the front of it and a memory storage device on the back. There's also a small mustard stain on it. What kind of data is stored within the memory on the card is an entirely different thing.

To quote George Carlin:

"About this time, they'll be telling you, 'Get on the plane. Get on the plane.' Well I say fuck you, I'm getting IN the plane. Let Evel Knievel get ON the plane. I'll be inside with the folks in uniform."

PHEW!

[b3x]

I am glad it doesnt list what movies I ordered!

Re:This is why...

[SlayerofGods]

Why destroy them?
I keep them as souvenirs from my various trips.

Re:Are you guys on crack?

[op12]

You see them left all over the place in Vegas.

Jackpot!!!

Re:Are you guys on crack?

[xaque]

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.

Re:I call BS...

[RosenSama]

Maybe he accidentally ran his credit card through the reader? :)

credit card reader

[arsenix]

I have a credit card reader as well, and occassionally amuse myself by running all the cards in my wallet through it. I was surprised to find that not one but ALL of my credit cards have both my name and credit card number in the magnetic stripe on the back in unencrypted form! If I lost one of these cards, someone with a card reader could easily retrieve all my information and go on a geek shopping spree. I guess we just can't lose our hotel keys or credit cards anymore...