From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 01:33:38 +0800
To: Lucky Green <whgiii@invweb.net>
Subject: Re: Driver Licenses
In-Reply-To: <199802082027.PAA00347@users.invweb.net>
Message-ID: <v03102801b104e8dbf314@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 12:00 AM -0800 2/9/98, Lucky Green wrote:

>See, major chains, such as the Southland corporation [7/11], recently
>installed POS terminals that are linked to the cash register. [This may
>not have reached a particular reader's area yet, please don't reply with
>"but my 7/11 down the corner does not do this"].
>
>Unless a driver license has been swiped, the cash register will not permit
>the clerk to ring up the sale. It doesn't matter how old you are, you can
>be 80 years old and in a wheelchair, no government issued ID with working
>mag stripe, no alcohol or tobacco products for you.

If this is consistently the case, then one approach is to wheel a cart up
to the checkout line with some alcohol....and a cart full of items from the
freezer and deli sections. (Some cartons of chicken salad, partly
"sampled," for example.)

If a U.S. Passport is not considered enough I.D., because it doesn't have
the Big Brother Inside magstripe, one walks away from the transaction.

"Oh, OK, you won't take my money. Bye!"

(I don't believe there are any laws saying a customer must separate his
purchases...if the store refuses to transact business with a customer, he
may leave.)

This leaves all that frozen food to be quickly returned to the shelves, and
the deli food, which probably cannot be returned. (Depends on store and
health department policy.)

I wish no ill will toward merchants, but implementing a Big Brother Inside
tracking policy carries some real costs.

Lucky didn't want us to reply with anecdotes, but I have to note that many,
many people will inevitably not have the type of cards Lucky refers to.
Visitors, tourists, residents of other states, etc. This would all be lost
revenue to stores. I thus question the "universality" of Southland's plans.
Perhaps only those who "look under 26" (which is what the signs say) will
be "striped carded."

>The clerk at my local 7/11 assured me the information captured would not
>be forwarded to a central site. Yet. It appears the stores are installing
>these systems to protect themselves against police sting "test buys", in
>which the authorities take persons just days shy of their 21st birthday,
>put theater makeup and/or a gray beard and wig on them and thus entrap
>store clerks into selling controlled substances to minors.

Lucky is right that that "underage stings" are on the increase. Underage
persons, often in high school, beome self-righteour warriors in the War On
Demon Rum, and "narc out" their local shopkeepers.

Hey, it would serve these junior narcs right if, upon being carded and
being shown to be underage, a store owner made a citizen's arrest. Perhaps
putting the perp in the back freezer for a few hours would send a message.


>As any fool can predict, the information captured will not remain local
>for long. After all, the system is ideal for monitoring gun^H^H^H alcohol
>purchases of parolees, tracking down deadbeat dads, etc.

We are on the road toward a surveillance society.

Sadly, the ideas of David Chaum are more needed than ever, but his stuff is
essentially nowhere to be seen. (To reflect Lucky's comments back to him,
:-), spare us any citations of how Mark Twain Bank will let some people
open a cumbersome Digicash account.)

--Tim May


Just Say No to "Big Brother Inside"
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