was in a bar with my friends one night and noticed that there were some girls walking around asking people to see their driver's licenses in return for a free zippo lighter. As we all know, the word "free" in college is anyone's ticket in. Many people did turn over their driver's licenses. The girls would swipe the driver's license through this little machine and move on. I was one of the few in the bar who did not hand over my license. As it turns out, it was a good decision (possibly one of the few during my college years).

A few weeks later, all of the people I was with that night who did turn over their licenses for that zippo, noticed money starting to drain from their bank accounts. One of my friends allegedy spent thousands of dollars buying embroidered t-shirts online. Another spend hundreds purchasing pet supplies. They all contacted their banks. The problem, we later discovered, was that someone had taken all of their personal information and had applied for dozens of credit cards, multiple bank accounts and, in one case, even got a duplicate driver's license made. It's been years since this event, and some of my friends are still dealing with the consequences.

I never saw someone scanning a driver's license again... that is, until one night at Fourth Street Live. To be honest, I did let them scan my ID at the entrance to the street. A few hours later, the question dawned on me... are they just verifying my age or are they doing more than that? As it turns out, they are doing more than making sure I'm over 21. With that said, Fourth Street Live is probably a little bit safer than the random girls at the bar in Boston. But just to be safe, the next time I go, I'll probably ask the secuirty guard not to scan it (a request, I'm told, they will respect).