Anonymous (remailer@htp.org) wrote:
My question is, how much information can be stored on these strips?
The data that's stored on most of the cards (credit cards, hotel keys, gym cards, etc.) are encoded with 5 bits per character. I believe that this is also known as Baudot encoding. You can store somewhere around 80 characters per track on "normal" cards, and most cards contain a 1/2" magnetic stripe that can hold 4, 1/8" tracks. So, I would estimate that your drivers license would hold a total of about 320 characters on all four tracks with standard encoding techniques. If you are interested in rendering only individual tracks unreadable, it can be done. I have done it by scratching off the magnetic material as you described. Of course, all tracks run horizontally across the card, with track 1 being the track closest to the edge of the card. So, if you wanted to destroy track 1, you could scrape off the 1/8" of the strip closest to the long edge of the license. Have fun. --David Miller middle rival devil rim lad