More on Swipe-Card Security

There’s an article in today’s New York Times on “swipe-card” hotel keys. In a posting on this blog some months ago, we reported many hotels imbed an immense amount of personal information (name, home address, credit card number and expiration date) on the magnetic swipe-card hotel key you get each time you stay away from home. That article recommended carrying away the card-key and destroying it at home. Today’s article quotes a number of folks in the card key industry as saying this is just an “urban myth” and that no such information is ever placed on these cards. Who knows? The author of today’s article suggests you either turn your key in at the front desk at check out or take it home with you and cut it into little pieces before throwing the fragments away.