================================================= Expat Worlds Monthly Digest ================================================= February, 2004 Vol. 6, Issue 02 .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== THE STORY =================== (Compliment from the Expat World Newsletter) -=Invasion of Privacy on the Road=- ==== OTHER EZINES ================ -=A Daily Dose of Happiness=- ==== EW SPECIAL ================== -=Get your Camouflage PP Before Prices Increase=- ==== HUMOR, TRIVIA, NEWS AND MORE... == -=Trivia=- -=News Story=- -=Traveller's Tales=- -=Jokes=- ==== THE RESOURCE TIP ============= -=All-in-One SECRETMAKER=- ==== INSIDE THIS MONTH EXPAT WORLD == -=Table of Content=- ==== THE STORY ================================== INVASION OF PRIVACY ON THE ROAD YOUR DRIVERS LICENSE CONTAINS PLENTY OF PRIVATE AND PERSONAL INFO ABOUT YOU A Scenario: A patron walks into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender asks to see some ID. Without asking permission, the barkeep swipes the driver's license through a card reader and the device flashes a green light approving the order. The bartender is just verifying the card isn't a fake, right? Yes, and perhaps more. Visitors to an art exhibit at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts got more than their martinis when they ordered drinks at a bar inside the gallery's entrance. Instead of pretzels and peanuts, they were handed a receipt containing the personal data found on their license, plus all the information that could be gleaned from commercial data-mining services and voter registration databases like Aristotle. Some patrons also got receipts listing their phone number, income range, marital status, housing value and profession. For added effect, the receipt included a little map showing the location of their residence. The magnetic strips and bar codes on the back of most state's driver's licenses in the USA contain more information than people think. The way the swipers use the information might surprise them as well: Some bars and restaurants scan driver's licenses to catch underage drinkers and fake IDs, but they're also using the information for marketing purposes. Last year artists and producers Beatriz da Costa, Jamie Schulte and Brooke Singer built the Swipe exhibit in Pittsburgh to show what's on the cards we all carry. To reinforce the point, they also launched a website a few weeks ago with a free online suite of tools that lets visitors decipher the bar codes on their IDs, calculate the worth of their data and request copies of their personal files from commercial data-mining companies like Acxiom and ChoicePoint. We wanted to give people back their data, to empower them to prevent having their information swiped," Singer said. While many patrons thought the museum project was fun, Singer said they were "pretty stupefied." "We put what we thought was the least sensitive data on a monitor over the bar, showing maps and a person's name and age. But they were upset about that; especially about their age," Singer said. "We didn't do it to offend anyone," Schulte said, "but sometimes that's the best way to get through people's defenses. We wanted them to be aware that the data was easy to get." More than 40 states use magnetic strips and bar codes on licenses. Depending on the type of code used, some cards can store up to 2,000 bytes. In some states, a driver's Social Security number also serves as the license number, so that sensitive nugget is also on the card. And Kentucky has embedded a digital image of the driver's photo in the bar code, according to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, or AAMVA, which sets voluntary standards for states to use when creating their licenses. Bar codes on licenses generally make life easier for law enforcement. Police scan the cards during traffic stops to avoid scribbling the information on a citation report. They also can more easily retrieve information from the computer in the squad car. Bars and restaurants scan the codes to catch underage drinkers using fake IDs. Convenience stores use them to verify the age of cigarette buyers. Airports, hospitals and government buildings are beginning to scan driver's licenses for security. And businesses can use driver's license records for legitimate business purposes such as verifying identities. "But is it legitimate to then store the information and use it for marketing purposes, or however they see fit without regulation?" said Singer. Using the information, a bar can track how often patrons come in, the hours they arrive and even identify those who arrive in groups (if the cards of friends are swiped in sequence). The bar can query, for example, how old the audience for a particular hired band was or how many were male or female. Bars also can combine the info with sales data if a patron purchases drinks and food with a credit card. The combination of age, weight, gender and liquor sales could help a bar determine what kinds of drinks to market to which crowd. Some people say there's no privacy violation in scanning licenses because the information on the bar code is the same information on the front of the card. A bar owner could easily photocopy the card and get the same data. But privacy advocates say the electronic file makes data collection, entry and combination far easier. "It's an area of concern," said Rich Carter, director of technology and standards for the AAMVA. "The policy is that you shouldn't be collecting the info for one purpose and using it for another. If you're telling them you're using it to verify their age, you shouldn't be using it to market them." THE SITE LOCATION FOR FINDING OUT WHAT'S ON YOUR BARCODE ON YOUR DRIVING LICENSE IS : http://turbulence.org/Works/swipe/barcode.html -- You may be surprised and plenty pissed off! ==== OTHER EZINES =============================== A Daily Dose of Happiness Turbo charge your day with a short, powerful, motivating message every morning. Happiness in an email! http://thehappyguy.com/daily-happiness-free-ezine.html ==== EW SPECIAL ================================= GET YOUR CAMOUFLAGE PASSPORTS BEFORE PRICES INCREASE Protect yourself from terrorists and also have an alternative Passport ID which can be used in many unique identification situations. We told you before in the EW Digest that the Camouflage Passport Biz has sold and moved offshore. Now after one succefull year the Cameo people are increasing prices due to sliding Euro/US$ exchange rates. So get your Camouflage Passport before proces increase. Current pricing of the Camouflage Package: * For shipment to anywhere but the USA: US $440 inclusive of all delivery charges. * For shipment to the USA: $505 inclusive of all delivery charges. All orders received from March 16, 2004 onward: * For shipment to anywhere but the USA: US $595 inclusive of all delivery charges. * For shipment to the USA: $665 inclusive of all delivery charges. Details at http://www.expatworld.net and select "Specials" from the top menu! ==== HUMOR, TRIVIA, NEWS AND MORE... ================ NEWS STORY Thai Premier Eats Entire Bucket Of Chicken To Calm Bird-Flu Fears BANGKOK—To allay concerns about the safety of Thai poultry following an outbreak of the H5N1 bird virus, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra ate an entire 15-piece bucket of fried chicken on live television Monday. "See, it's fine, this chicken," Shinawatra said as he tore into a leg. "You are all worried for nothing. It's delicious." In a Carson's Group International poll taken after the broadcast, 63 percent of viewers said they wouldn't be afraid to eat chicken raised in Thailand, but 94 percent said they were afraid of Shinawatra. ----- Law: A US citizen can take possession of any foreign, uninhabited island, as long as it contains bird droppings. Citation: TITLE 48 - TERRITORIES AND INSULAR POSSESSIONS CHAPTER 8 - GUANO ISLANDS Sec. 1411. Guano districts; claim by United States Whenever any citizen of the United States discovers a deposit of guano on any island, rock, or key, not within the lawful jurisdiction of any other government, and not occupied by the citizens of any other government, and takes peaceable possession thereof, and occupies the same, such island, rock, or key may, at the discretion of the President, be considered as appertaining to the United States. Explanation: Guano was once a valuable fertilizer for farmers, and to obtain as much as possible at a low cost, the US government passed this law in the mid 1800s. Such islands that were annexed under this act include: Jarvis Island, Howland Island, Christmas Island, Midway Island, and Baker Island. ----- TRAVELLER'S TALES GOT A POINT: A dragon has been signed up for a course of acupuncture treatment in Singapore. Tirto, a Komodo dragon almost three metres in length, is receiving twice-weekly treatments with sterilized needles to help with an eating disorder. "Tirto is now more relaxed and is beginning to enjoy his treatments," a spokesman for the Singapore Zoological Gardens, Vincent Tan, told the Associated Press. Next: aromatherapy for antelopes and ear-candling for elephants. ----- To be a tourist you must: Never have worked abroad before, Wear an "I’ve been to Saudi" tee shirt, Look up airline timetables every day, Send cassettes home of your voice, Send home photos of yourself, Listen in awe to "when I" stories, i.e. "when I was in South Africa...." Write and receive letters every day, Mark off how many days to go on a calendar, Try to change your leave schedule, Buy ethnic gifts, i.e. Gutras, puzzle rings, etc. Worry about tax, Ask every day if the mail has arrived, Be unable to put down a brew, Eat egg, beans and chips every night, Get sunburn and be ill for a week Throw up after the first drink Get on the bosses nerves Prang a company car Complain about the lack of bog paper Fail to return after the first trip Analyse every word of the contract at least twice Arrive at airport with more than one suitcase, 6 hours early Wear Polaroid "lookers" sunglasses Wear company cap Spend all your allowance before the end of the month To be an expat you must: Have worked in at least three different hemispheres Flown on at least 10 different airlines Use a small holdall for your entire luggage Be bored with air travel Know everyone who's ever been contracting for the last 10 years Wear an imitation Rolex watch Never be seen in an "I’ve been to Saudi" tee shirt Get on well with the boss Take a tourist under your wing Always try to fiddle the expenses Lay down a brew on the first day Get pissed on the first night - somehow Reminisce over "the good old days of contracting" Have a mega-tan Have a negligible bank account Have an understanding wife/divorce Have a £100,000 house Have a wallet full of credit cards, car hire cards, etc. Been blown up at least once Wear ray ban sunglasses - permanently Arrive at airport after "last call" announced Enter airport pissed - both ways Have a 90 page passport Have the taxman chasing you ----- Oxymoron: voluntary taxes ----- ==== THE RESOURCE TIP ============================ All-in-One SECRETMAKER All-in-One SECRETMAKER combines 7 powerful tools together in 1 software package - Spam Fighter Pro - outstanding multilevel anti-spam solution for junk email - Worm Hunter - protects you from spreading email viruses to your friends - Pop-Up Killer - sophisticated and smart, blocks disturbing advertising windows - Banner Blocker - avoids banners, speeds up browsing, reduces online access costs - Cookie Eraser - prevents profiling through cookies, saved by Microsoft Explorer - Privacy Protector - exchanges tracking information, state-of-the-art solution - History Cleaners - prevents betrayal, deletes history logs, speeds up your computer Only All-in-One SECRETMAKER gives you all these powerful tools in a single, easy to use freeware package. Go to ==== INSIDE THIS MONTH EXPAT WORLD =============== EXPAT WORLD NEWSLETTER (VOL.16 ISSUE 02) Table of Content: - DIFFERENT WORLDS FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS - BITS AND PIECES - FREE COLLEGE EDUCATION - BANK CHIEF HELD - A VERY BIG SCAM BEWARE - LETTER FROM AMERICA - GET THAT OLD TIME RELIGION! - 2004 QUALITY OF LIFE INDEX - GOD SPEAKS TO G.W. BUSH - EXPAT WORLD'S WORLD OF TRAVEL - INTERNATIONAL SNIPS AND CLIPS - INVASION OF PRIVACY ON THE ROAD - A MARIJUANA AND CHOCOLATE LINK? - CRAPPER RAPPER - TOO MUCH TIME YOU MISSING SO MUCH Each week the EXPAT WORLD DIGEST gives you just a smattering of what you can find in the EXPAT WORLD newsletter that we produce once a month. Why not get the whole story and subscribe now to our electronic version for just US $30 per year. Go to our website: www.expatworld.net to sign up. ********************************************************************* EXPAT WORLD - the newsletter of international living FREE Trial Subscription at http://www.expatworld.net/ URL - http://www.expatworld.net Email - office@expatworld.net ---------- End of Expat World Digest -------------------------------- To unsubscribe, write to unsubscribe-digest@expatworld.net