california drivers license magnetic stripe format

It is replacing the single bar code on the card with a double bar holding twice as much data, which can be easily transmitted to other states.This is a decimal value between 00 and 99 that specifies the version level of the PDF417 bar code format. Morton said the agency is abandoning the magnetic stripe, which held detailed driver information, because the prevalence of magnetic readers made the data too accessible. The new plastic card, she said, will have more identifying information on it, and more security features. 'You can go on the Internet, download a form, send in a photo and $40, and it's amazing what you get back.' There are services that will do it for you, too. Some Web sites even provide templates of driver's licenses from around the country, making it simple to just download and print. Web sites offer recipes for making phony holograms using a razor blade, acrylic base and titanium dioxide powder, all available in art stores.Įlectrical tape, scissors and an iron can create a passable magnetic stripe. Now, though, the know-how to create a legitimate-looking ID is as close as the Internet the tools - computers, inkjet printers, digital cameras and laminators - are sold at office supply stores, forcing Maryland and other states to scramble to counter the counterfeiters. Also incorporated into the card were a bar code and a magnetic stripe, both containing basic driver data. Maryland was among the first states to use digital photos and holograms. The revisions gave Maryland what was then one of the most secure, tough-to-copy driver's licenses in the country. With it, he was able to elude police for days and use his victim's credit cards. Those changes were prompted mostly by the crime spree of Dontay Carter, a teen-ager who easily obtained a replacement driver's license in the name of a Catonsville man he had killed. 'As foolproof a system as man can divine,' former Transportation Secretary O. It featured the now-familiar digital photo, the ghost images of the driver and the state flag, and a plastic laminate that destroyed the card if someone tried to cut it apart. The only thing you're doing is raising the bar.'įake copies were supposed to be virtually impossible when Maryland last unveiled a new driver's license, in 1993. 'There is no such thing as a foolproof document.

'As soon as you put out a secure license, somebody is working to break it,' said Nathan Root of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

California drivers license magnetic stripe format