>>We have one of those silly passcard systems at work. The system itself isn't silly because we handle sensitive financial data and there are lots of new security / privacy requirements coming down the pike from Visa and MasterCard, whose transactions we process. But the logic of the door software is brain dead. (I have seen the same thing elsewhere, including at the Sainsbury head office in London). If it last recorded you exiting the secure area it won't let you out again, and vice versa. This means if you leave or enter at the same time as someone else, everyone has to be sure to swipe their passcard even though the door is already open. Computers! Too much logic sometimes and not enough common sense.
>
>Don't you mean lack of commonsense of the programmer there, lack of forethought of such contingencies? Like teh answer that the 'puter always gives me when, in exasperation I say, "Why are you DOING this!?": "Because you told me to!" (in a metalic voice, of course).
>
>
>So, according to Maine customs, and the system in general, I'm still at large in the States?
>
>"I'm an alien / an illegal alien / I'm an Englishman in Noo Yark"
>

Your record has been flagged so the next time you try to enter Maine you will be dropped off in the woods for the bears or black flies to eat, whichever occurs first.

The first computer professor I had liked to say, "The computer is an idiot. All it knows is what you tell it."