<<< Date Index >>>     <<< Thread Index >>>

[IP] more on Hacked Speedpass, Hotel mag cards





Begin forwarded message:

From: John Adams <jadams01@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: September 21, 2005 11:02:44 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] Hacked Speedpass, Hotel mag cards
Reply-To: John Adams <jadams01@xxxxxxxxxxx>


-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>


Snopes has already taken a skewer to this one:



http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/hotelkey.asp


So? In this case, we've got an actual, live individual making fairly specific claims. Still could be a hoax, but as the snopes page points out, one chain did formerly do just what was claimed. Are you willing to bet that non-chains motels and hotels, and cheaper chains, aren't doing this? Snopes is good at documenting urban legends, but I don't regard that as superior to actually testing the cards and finding out the truth of the matter.

The follow-up from Robert Mitchell points something interesting out:

"What's interesting to me is that while everyone has an opinion as to whether its possible that hotels would - either knowingly or unknowingly - store such information on a card key, only one person who posted here claims to have tried this at several hotels (without success). Given past discussions and all of the news stories going back to at least 2003, I am surprised that no one else among this tech savvy group has tried this and reported in."

Hmm...now where could I find a tech-savvy group to supply data? Any thoughts?

Thanks,

      John A
      see me fulminate at http://www.jzip.org/


-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/