Security at Disney Freaks Me Out...

I'll babble on more about our trip to Disney World, but I saw an article today that reminded me of something that really bugged me about Disney: they now require you (in most parks) to give them a fingerprint in addition to your ticket when you enter the parks. They say it's because they want to make sure that only one person is using each ticket, but it worries me still. What do they do with those fingerprints once the ticket expires? Does the print ever get destroyed, or held somewhere for future use? And if it IS stored, can someone hack in, steal them, and find some way to use them?  If governments lose stuff (NYC lost my mother's info last year), and corporations lose stuff and also have them hacked into, why should I trust The Mouse and The Duck?

(Quick one that I know someone will mention: yes, some of the parks will accept photo id instead of the fingerprint, but not all of the gate people know this. I was given grief at one gate (by more than one person) when I complained about the fingerprint and the gentleman said to me "it only captures biometrics." I had this urge to ask him what that meant, as he appeared to have no idea, but I decided not to cause further upsetment. You'd think that with all the training Disney supposedly provides, they'd explain to the operators exactly what the system does and what it's capturing.)

This whole thing freaks me out 'cause I'm starting to worry about all the places that have my personal info. Think about it: I used to live in New York, where your Social Security number was your driver's license number (and I think they had mine for oh, maybe 11 years!). And I attended Brooklyn College for some post-bacc courses, and they somehow used my SS number as an id as well. And how many times have you given your SS number or some other identifying info over the phone or at a store? Doesn't that worry you that someone is gonna steal it and use it?

The prevalence of this information-gathering is making me very worried about what can happen in the future. I'm not saying I'm totally paranoid, but the possibilities are endless...

And remember kids, "short of amputation, a biometric identifier [ie, a fingerprint] can't be revoked or changed." (from Boingboing 4/1/08: Hackers publish thousands of copies of fingerprint of German Minister who promotes fingerprint biometrics)

Here's the article I saw today:

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/hackers-publish.html

And here's the original one I saw a bit ago:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/15/fingertip-biometrics.html

Make your own decisions, but that's why neither my blog nor my email addresses contain my name. I don't have a "shady past," but I don't want anyone to steal what I do have.

Next blog: room keys at our hotel