K --------------------------------------------------------------------------- J [Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]  * GeeK: The Taking of Pelham, One, Two, Free  K ---------------------------------------------------------------------------   >    * To: geeks@umich.edu, ccordes@us.ibm.com, chunk@monkey.org8    * Subject: GeeK: The Taking of Pelham, One, Two, Free     * From: evan.cordes@umich.edu*    * Date: Fri, 09 Jan 1998 00:27:55 -0500  K ---------------------------------------------------------------------------   C http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/nyc-transitcard.html    January 9, 1998   E New York Transit Officials Tinker to Prevent 'Swiping' Without Paying    By ANDY NEWMAN  E NEW YORK -- Concerned that people are figuring out how to alter their E Metrocards to get free rides, transit officials said on Thursday that G they would reprogram all 3,000-plus subway turnstiles by next week. But ? the change could make it harder for passengers to swipe damaged E Metrocards, transit officials acknowledged, inconveniencing what they ) said would be a small fraction of riders.   G For at least a year, officials said on Thursday, transit officials have F known that people could trick the turnstile into accepting a MetrocardD without deducting value from it by physically manipulating the card.C Officials would not discuss the technique other than to say that it F involved destroying some of the data on the card's magnetic strip. But> officials said that nothing was done because so few people hadD manipulated the cards that the Metropolitan Transportation AuthorityD did not feel it was losing enough revenue to justify inconveniencing riders.   F On Wednesday, however, the police announced that they had arrested twoB people for electronic fare-beating, and fearful that the publicityB would cause word of the technique to spread quickly, the authorityF decided to retool the software on its $700-million turnstile system to reject manipulated cards.   F Officials said the cure would also mean that more Metrocard users withC scratched or defective cards would have to mail the cards in to get  them replaced.  G "Are we going to inconvenience a lot of customers?" said Christopher P. E Boylan, a deputy executive director of the MTA.  "Probably not a lot. A More than we're doing today? Not too many more. Is it worth it to C safeguard the system against people trying to scam us? Definitely."   G Boylan said the change would not affect good Metrocards that are simply F passed through the reader too quickly or too slowly or at an angle. HeF said such failed swipes made up the overwhelming majority of instances< where riders have to use their cards a second or third time.  G Lawrence Reuter, the president of New York City Transit, the arm of the D MTA that runs the subways, said on Thursday that six of the modifiedD cards were used on Monday an average of 50 times each by cheaters atB the 42nd Street Station on the Eighth Avenue line and at the 116th$ Street station of the 1 and 9 lines.  = "The police would see people swiping other people through and  collecting money," he said.   E The police would not release the names of the people arrested, saying . that the matter was still under investigation.  E Tightening the security system to block out the cheaters will require G opening up each turnstile and reprogramming a chip inside, Boylan said, A a process that will take a few minutes per turnstile and cost the G authority only a few hundred hours of labor. But the reprogramming that C will thwart the use of doctored cards will also make the turnstiles G less tolerant of cards with magnetic strips that have been accidentally  scratched or demagnetized.  E As the system is currently set up, when the turnstile receives a card ? with a damaged strip, it sends the rider a "please swipe again" D message. On the second try, said Ron Kane, vice president for publicF affairs for the Cubic Corp., which makes the turnstiles, the turnstileE tries to repair the electronic damage to the strip and lets the rider D through. But the next time the rider uses the card, if the turnstileD cannot read it, it invalidates the card, requiring the rider to mail= the card back to the transportation authority to be replaced.   F After next week, however, if the turnstile cannot read after the first5 two attempts, it will declare it invalid immediately.   B Transit officials said that so far, the cheaters had caused littleE revenue loss. Even at a rate of 300 free rides a day, the amount that @ officials said was racked up Monday, the cheaters would cost theG transportation authority about $164,000 a year in lost revenue. That is G only a tiny fraction of the $22 million that the agency lost in 1996 in B fare-beating, mostly by turnstile-jumping and sneaking through the gates.  G Officials said they did not know whether yesterday's news inspired huge > numbers of people to try to tamper with Metrocards. But on theG Internet, where hackers have been trying to figure out how to crack the G card's code since it was introduced in 1994, electronic bulletin boards E were abuzz with postings like "What's the new way to hack Metrocard?"   B "Supposedly a card folded along the T of 'Metrocard' allows this,"? wrote a user who signed himself "The Railroad Clerk from Hell."   9 That method appeared to be worth a try to someone. At the C Broadway-Lafayette Street station on Thursday afternoon, there were E several discarded Metrocards sitting on the ledge of the token booth.  One of them was bent at the T.  K ---------------------------------------------------------------------------   ,    * Prev by Date: GeeK: Geeky crap at NAIAS    * Next by Date: GeeK: Bored? .    * Prev by thread: GeeK: Geeky crap at NAIAS!    * Next by thread: GeeK: Bored?     * Index(es):          o Date         o Thread