do you think this is true??

[MRCN RCE]

EDIT: FOUND OUT IT'S NOT TRUEi got this in an email. even if it's not true, it kinda makes you think about things. Ever wonder what is on your magnetic key card?Answer:a. Customer's nameb. Customer's partial home addressc. Hotel room numberd. Check-in date and out datese Customer's credit card number and expiration date!When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information isthere for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner. An employee can take a hand full of cards home andusing a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense.Simply put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee re-issues the card to the next hotel guest. At that time, the new guest's information is electronically "overwritten" on the card andthe previous guest's information is erased in the overwriting process.But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!The bottom line is:Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them. NEVER leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and NEVER turn them in to the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card (it's illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving a lot of valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader. For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket. Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip! You can also use a small magnet and pass it across the magnetic strip several times. Then try it in the door, if it does not work it erases everything on the card.Information courtesy of: Pasadena Police Department

[joatmon]

http://www.truthorfiction.com/...s.htm says no

[MRCN RCE]

hey that's a cool site, i'm gonna save that. i didn't think it was true, but i wasn't 100% sure. i always keep my cards anyway. they make great souveniers if somethin interesting happened in that room . also, i like puttin em through my paper shredder.

[Whelan]

The only thing a key card for a hotel has on it is the encrypted information that will allow you access to that particular room. The door lock is sync'd with that key card for a select amount of time (depending on your stay). Rolling codes so to speak so that when you are supposed to check out, withint 24 hours of the checkout the code on the door is rolled and the key card is no longer valid with the code it was given.Think of it as a garage door opener, but instead of rolling the code everytime it is opened and closed with the same button. Now imagine you have to use a different button every two days. Same system.Even your little HID cards for work access don't store a ton of information. Most are just access codes matched to the doors. But some do store information such as your employee # for tracking purposes. Other than that, none of the other information is kept.

[98ex]

That is not true. My wife works for a hotel - the Hilton Anatole in Dallas (largest convention hotel in the southwest - 1600+ rooms) The only information that is coded on teh cards is the room # along with a randomized 32 digit code. When they program the code onto the card, they also program the code onto the door locking mechanism. Each time a person checks into a room, the code is randomly changed. Most hotels use only a randomized 6-8 digit code, but hers just went through a 120 million remodel and they went with the more secure doors. Another cool feature of their hotel is that on your check out date, if you have not notified the hotel that you are needing extra time, the door code is automatically changed at 12pm by the computer, so if you leave and try to get back in after 12 you will not be able to.Only security has the master key, and house keeping have key cards that are specific to each person. This means that they can tell which maid has opened which room.