ID Theft

[Boomer]

I thought I would share this with you, although I realize that you all probably know most of it. It was on Today this morning.

The reason I'm putting the link here is not to be redundant. It is because there is one on this list that surprised me. I have heard it discussed over and over, and I have mostly heard that it is not true.

Well, according to this, it is true.

You know those hotel keys. Well, as it turns out, we ARE supposed to destroy them.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/23922103/

[Sidney Lanier]

My wife is a travel agent and has consistently maintained that those plastic hotel keys are indeed 'live' with one's personal information. I usually give them back to the hotel clerk when we check out; when they're reused, the next person's information is encoded on them. (The hotel has your information already anyway.) If in doubt, then shred them (rather than simply cutting them in half and throwing them away).

[Russ_Boston]

Not really sure why this reporter had this as one of her favorite tips. She says destroy them or give them back to the hotel (where they get overlaid with new info as mentioned). I don't really see the privacy gap. The hotel already has your info on file that any employee can access anyway.

What else would you do with them? Pass them out as party favours?

[tony]

If you left the key behind on the dresser, and an unscrupulous hotel worker grabbed it and sold it to unsavory identity thieves, there you go.

Now why would the hotel industry think all my information should be on that key just to open a room door?