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On January 9th Tony Newton, the Under Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Security, launched the government's £600,000 promotional campaign for the introduction of the controversial new plastic National Insurance cards. These plastic cards contain the following ‘visible’ information: name, national insurance number and a check digit. What has been of most concern, is that the card contains a magnetic strip that can store information ‘invisible’ to the card holder. As the dhss has announced it is not the intention to include any type of ‘secret information’ on this strip, the current anxiety expressed by certain organisations and individuals has been seen by many as a fuss about nothing; but is there really cause for concern, and what has all this to do with libraries?