Back to School

Fake IDs are about to go the way of the mullet.

Well, at least real fake IDs — you know, the ones with that picture that made one look as old as possible but which would hardly survive a TSA check circa 2018.

I’m talking about Apple’s new partnership for a contactless ID card introduced in iOS 12 and watchOS5, which will allow students at Duke University, University of Alabama, and the University of Oklahoma to access dorms, dining halls, library, the gym, and also pay for bookstore supplies, laundry usage, and even restaurant meals.

Using the Apple Wallet and contactless NFC readers, as well as the Apple Wallet, students simply need hold their device near a card reader to unlock a door.

The new high tech ID cards certainly have benefits in terms of safety and convenience, but one has to wonder what are the implications of privacy, and how can all that digital campus data potentially be used or misused.

Meanwhile, be aware that if you’re traveling to New Zealand, a new law that went into effect yesterday, the Customs and Excise Act 2018, could require you to provide access (via password, pin-code, or fingerprint) to your electronic devices if officials have a “reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.”

According to a story from RNZ, customs officials will examine one’s phone while it’s in flight mode (and not the cloud), but that for those who refuse, they could face fines up to $5,000 and confiscation of one’s device.

Privacy and due process issues abound…what constitutes “reasonable suspicion” and how does one challenge whether or not it is, in fact, reasonable.

So how long before we’re all chipped so we can be monitored everywhere, at all times, with no privacy whatsoever?

It could be sooner than you think.