Het heeft niet zoveel met hardware of computers te maken, maar als studenten gaan protesteren vinnik het altijd wel interessant worden 
. Via Slashdot kwam ik bij dit artikel van WorldNetDaily, over een groep van 350 studenten uit Ruston, Louisiana, die in protest zijn gegaan tegen het dragen van ID badges waarin hun social security number wordt gebrandmerkt. Ten eerste vinden ze het niet prettig om als vee behandeld te worden, ten tweede blijken de nummers erg eenvoudig met een barcode scanner uit gelezen te kunnen worden:
The badges are worn on a lanyard with the Pepsi logo on it. The badge has a photo of the student, the school name, the student's name, and a barcode which represents the Social Security number. Although administrators claim the number is protected from unauthorized use through encryption in the barcode, the students know that is not true.To prove how easy it is to read the barcodes, Jonathan Washington, 16, reads any barcode in about 15 seconds. He tells other students their Social Security number and then asks them to sign his petition to have the cards changed.
His methods are convincing. Over 350 students have signed in just the first few days. Rachel Winchel, 16, another Ruston student, is helping to spread the protest and circulate the petition. [break] Dit is nou een koele actie
: [/break] Since the faculty and administration also wear the cards, students are busy taking down their Social Security numbers with plans to publish the results on the Internet if the cards are not discontinued.
"Actually, it's not difficult to look at it and know what it means," explained Winchel. "There's narrow bars and there's wide bars. Each number zero through nine has a code. By memorizing the code for the number zero through nine, you can just glance at someone's card and the numbers just pop out.
[...] Washington's complaints to Dr. Scriber [directeur van die school] produced a sudden change in policy in the past few days. The librarian was told to remove Washington's Social Security number from the library computer which reads the barcodes. A new card has not been issued, and the cafeteria computer has not been changed.
"He thought that would get me to leave him alone about it," said Washington, who has vowed to continue his fight. He will not be satisfied until the cards are completely changed for all students. If the change is not made he expects to take the school to court for civil damages.
Check hier het volledige artikel.
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