Connecticut Drivers License Security Features

The other barcodes, though? We can’t know what information is encoded there for security reasons.īamboozled: What the bar codes on your driver’s license reveal about you, and why it matters Įditor's Note: This article originally appeared on Consumerist. That’s to prevent people from altering the front of their license–say, the year of their birth. An International Driving Permitsometimes referred to as an international driver’s licenseis a document that grants you the privilege of driving a motor vehicle legally while abroad.

There’s your name, birthdate, address, height, and weight. What the MVC, New Jersey’s motor vehicle agency, could tell her was that some of the data embedded on the back of your license is the same information that’s on the front of your license. Lots of extensive reporting got her…well, she found out what one of the barcodes means, but what the other one contains is a mystery that mere mortals are not allowed to understand. Yet people often wonder what information is embedded in those barcodes, and consumer problem-solving columnist Karin Price Mueller of the Star-Ledger decided to find out.

We use driver’s licenses as photo ID for everything from buying cold medicine or booze to boarding a plane, in addition to using them as proof that we’re legally permitted to drive. There’s a lot of information about you on the back of your state-issued driver’s license or non-driver ID card, but does scanning your license or making a copy of it give potential identity thieves key information about you? It’s not easy to find out what data is encoded in the barcodes on the back of your ID cards, and your state’s motor vehicles department may not want you to know.

Connecticut Drivers License Security Features