A PACK of photo paper, laminating sheets, spray glue: it sounds like a list of things you need for the school art class. In fact they are ingredients for a fake identity card. Add a dash of Photoshop expertise, and you can earn yourself £1, 000 (about $1, 500) a week, according to a former vendor, a privately educated British schoolboy, who used to sell fake cards at £25 a time to his classmates.
一打照相纸、几张薄纸，一瓶喷胶：这听上去像一堂你在学校手工课上所需要的东西，事实上他们是制作一张假身份证的材料。再加上少许PS技术，一周就能挣上一千英镑（约合1500美元），这些都是通过一个来自英国私立学校的学生卖家得知的，他卖那些假证给同学们的价格为25英镑一张。
The trade is even more profitable in America. Because the legal drinking age is 21, demand is higher and buyers are richer. An ex-student says he was able to sell bogus IDs for $120 each. Whereas he found holograms and bar codes on American driving licences easy to forge, he failed to copy the magnetic strips. Unwisely, perhaps, some American states are now phasing out licences with magnetic strips in favour of cheaper ones with bar codes.
这样的交易在美国更有赚头。因为在美国，合法酒龄为21岁，假身份证的需求更大而买家的手头也更为阔绰。一位之前是学生的卖家透露说，他兜售假身份证的价格为每张120美元。尽管他发现仿造美国驾照上的全息图和条形码轻而易举，但他还是无法复制出相同的磁条。然而美国的一些州目前所发出的驾照上使用的是更便宜的条形码而并非磁条，这听上去可能有些愚蠢。
The business of forged identity cards is booming, particularly in the Anglosphere. A study in 2009 of American university students found that 17% of freshmen and 32% of seniors owned a false ID. Today the numbers are even higher, experts reckon. Bars near American campuses have started to ask for two kinds of identification.
这样的假身份证买卖正急剧膨胀，特别是在英语系国家。一个2009年针对美国在校大学生的研究表明，17%的大一新生和32%的大二学生都持有一张假身份证。专家们认为，这个数字在今天甚至会更高。一些临近美国大学的酒吧已经开始要求出示两种不同的身份证明。
The use of fake IDs is spreading around the world. China has no great taboo against under-age drinking, so bar owners seldom check. But getting into an internet café is more difficult. One well-known place to get a card is the east gate of Renmin University in Beijing. Merchants there report that they can make 100, 000 yuan ($16, 000) a year.
使用假身份证的趋势似乎已经蔓延全世界。中国并没有明确的法律规定饮酒的年龄，所以酒吧吧主也很少检查，但是进入网吧是更困难的一件事。北京一个众所周知的卖假证的地点位于人民大学的东门，那些兜售假证的卖家表示一年能挣100，000元（约合16，000美元）。
Fake IDs used to be easy to detect, at least by experts, says Geoff Slagle of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. The main problem, he says, were “flashpassers”: youths who flash their cards at uninterested barmaids, who do nothing but check the photo on the card.
一位美国机动车管理者协会的Geoof Slagle表示，假身份证曾很容易被鉴别出，至少对专家而言是这样。但他同时指出，最大的问题在于那些“闪客”，那些青少年拿着他们的假身份证在那些并不负责的酒保们面前一闪而过，酒保们所做的也只不过是看看证件上的照片而已。
Yet technology has given the fake ID business a boost. With today’s software and printers, good fakes are easier to make. Counterfeiters no longer need to produce one document at a time; the latest gear allows for mass-production. And since orders can be taken over the internet, the producers no longer need to be close to their customers.
迄今为止，高科技为假身份的买卖埋下了祸根。用当今的软件和打印机，很容易进行精仿。伪造者根本无需一次只能伪造出一个假身份证，最新的设备已经允许大量的伪造。再加上现在买家能在网上下单，这些伪造者也不再需要和他们的客户有任何近距离接触。
At the same time, IDs themselves have become more sophisticated. This has driven counterfeiters to invest more and raise prices. A decade ago, a good fake card could be bought for between $35 and $50, according to David Myers, an identity-card expert in Florida. Now people have to be prepared to pay ten times more.
与此同时，身份证本身也变得更加精密先进。这趋势伪造者们投资更多也提升售价。一位来自Florid的证件专家David Myers表示，十年之前，一个精仿的假证就能卖35英镑到50英镑。现在人们不得不准备付上高于十倍的价钱。
As a result, many ID mills have gone online and are now based in China and other Asian countries, where costs are low and forgers hard to prosecute. A popular site is ID Chief. “We are at it again. Here is the Mississippi license, ” it touts in its latest offer, which charges $200 for two cards. On August 6th four American senators sent a letter to the Chinese ambassador, asking the country to close down such firms.
结果，很多的ID工厂已经走向网络化交易，同时工厂建立在了花费更少，伪造者很难被起诉的国家，比如中国和其他一些亚洲国家。一个比较火的站点是ID Chief。“我们又要做一次了，这次是Mississippi的驾照。”这句话来自一笔最新的两张假证200美元的订单。8月6日，四位美国的参议院在给中国大使的信中要求中国关闭这些假证制造点。
Western countries could do something about the problem themselves. One improvement would be to introduce a standard national ID card, particularly in America. Not only does each state issue its own driving licence, but there are also numerous other official identity cards. Five years ago Mr Myers counted 542. The figure has since grown, he says.
西方国家针对这个问题也该做些什么。其中一个改进方法就可以使引进一个标准型的全国身份证，特别是美国。这个改进不仅仅适用于改变美国每个州发行不同的州驾照，同样也适用于多的几乎数不清的其他正式证件。五年前，Myers先生统计的结果为542种证件，他相信这个数字已经增长了。
Fighting technology with technology seems most promising—by replacing ID cards with phones. In Britain a new scheme called Touch2id encodes fingerprints and proof of age on a smart sticker that is to be attached to a mobile. To get served, youths need to swipe their phone over a chip-reader and have their fingerprints scanned.
用更先进的高科技打压高科技看起来更有希望——用手机取代身份证。在英国，一个新的叫做Touch2id的计划把指纹和年龄证明编译在了一个能附着于手机的智能粘条之上。青少年们则需要将手机在电子识别器上划过以扫描他们的指纹，只有验证合格之后他们才能获得服务。
An overseas counterfeiter would have a hard time to trick such a system, says Edgar Whitley of the London School of Economics. Yet it is also pricey: the Touch2id scanners cost £200 each. Without government mandates or cash to pay for installing such devices, fake IDs are here to stay.
伦敦经济学院的Edgar Whitley表示，那些国外的仿造者会很难在这么一个系统上再耍什么花招了。尽管它的代价很高昂：每一个Touch2id扫描仪将价值200英镑。没有政府的授权和金钱投入去安装这样的设备，假身份证任将十分猖獗。
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