Posted on 01/10/2008 6:37:05 PM PST by Eyes Unclouded
Good idea, but in Texas, you can't legally accept a passport as ID for buying alcohol. I'm not kidding.
Have you ever written a check or used a debit card when using it? If so you've been pegged to the card whether you use it or not. I regularly get new cards for those places that want them, and give them bogus data. I've swapped cards with other folks too. The important thing is to make sure that the cards are useless for data collection by making sure the data is fairly worthless.
Houston is all wet. A great deal of Texas is “dry” which means not really dry but that every bar and restaurant is really a private club. State law says they need to get your driver’s license number as a membership requirement if being served alcohol is a benefit of membership. You can forgoe the unicard, but then the take your license every time.
Here’s how it works:
A minor goes into a bar and orders a drink. He gets carded and produces a fake ID that passes the waiter’s check. Later, he leaves the bar and gets stopped. He produces his real ID that shows he is underage. It is better to get busted for being underage than to be busted for being underage AND in possession of a fake ID. The bar is now in trouble for serving alcohol to a minor.
Luckily for most bars, minors are stupid enough to keep the ID’s together so it gets found when they search the wallet. But that is the big deal with fake ID’s.
I am surprised that Mr. Schneier didn't point out that several states include the SSN in the encoded information on the driving licenses that they issue, so any "swiping" of information from those licenses could also be a serious breach of personal information.
When they ask me I say "What! There's a MAXIMUM age now?."
But I give it with a smile.
I JUST watched Watership Down this week on YouTube. When I saw your name it immediately struck me as a name from that movie.
Really enjoyed it. Maybe it’s more accurate to say ‘from that book’ but even though I was a voracious reader as a child (still am) I had never even heard of Watership Down until about 2 years or so ago.
They really don't care all that much about your personal info.
While reporting your grocery purchases to Hillary Clinton might be one of the uses for the State Grocery Usage Registration Database Card, the primary reason that they want you to use it is to:
1) Identify the customers who buy their higher margin products;
2) Research how much these customers will pay for staple items, like milk.
They keep raising the price for milk, say, until these desirable customers stop buying it. Then they back the price off to where they start buying it again.
They're trying to keep the customers who buy the most at the highest margins.
That's what really is behind this VIC card thing.
I was buying beer at the local place yesterday, and the snot-nosed clerk asked me, "What's your birthday?"
After a cold glare and several seconds I replied, "December 30."
That was as far as it went.
I understand that. However, I also think the guy probably used his credit card to pay for the alcohol, and that also tracks his drinking habits.
Unless he was wanting to pay with cash, then it’s just a silly argument.
It’s kind of like going to the grocery store with one of the “club” cards that you use for discounts. Those things track everything you buy so the grocery store knows how things are selling. Well, if the grocery store asked for a driver’s license when you buy liquor, it doesn’t really matter because they already have all the information.
Who says you have to give them your real SSN?
A scan to verify is reasonable. Storing the results is probably actionable, as it exposes the customer to fraud/identity theft.
I’ve had waitstaff ask not only for my card but for my PIN before (they didn’t get either after that blatant effort) so I know that there are scum out there ready to rip you off (Sir, I would recommend against the lobster bisque).
It’s perfectly reasonable to want to not accidentally serve underage patrons, but it’s even more reasonable not to allow unprincipled staff and less principled corporations to walk off with and store personal identification.
Instead of writing a futile and p—sy little column, the author should have filed suit against the restaurant. There is nothing that brings swift and decisive action like the fear of loss.
Indeed. There are a lot of people--intelligent people--that think that email just disappears into the ether when they hit the delete key. At least paper can be shredded. Email is forever.
I am 50 and never offended when asked for my ID. I am not sure what the insult it. Many establishments uniformly ask for ID so that no one can complain when this is done. To allow discretion by some employees is to invite a stupid act of some kind. But, if you don’t like the policy, go somewhere else with your business.
That 3/4 of Texas must not include Houston.
Yeah, it’s from the book... I actually haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve loved the book (and its sequel) since I was about 12 or 13.
The marketers have long traded in personal information and they lobby congress well. They have done so for over 25 years.
There is no law being broken, to be sure. The marketers write the laws just as the MPAA does in that industry.
How is it a “hardship” to be asked to present an ID at the election poll once (maybe twice including primary, and rarely a third or fourth time for primary/actual election runoffs) but no one complains about the “hardship” of not being able to enter a bar or buy a can of beer or a pack of smokes without an ID?
The first breach is the driver’s license bureau requesting your SSN which is NONE of their business.
There are data thieves within the DPS and DMV and there are crooks working there who knowingly sell REAL driver’s licenses (even multiples) to people with false “information”.
They get caught (and some like the lady in Tennessee get murdered) but it happens.
Don’t fear the restaurant or store peeking at your SSN when you don’t need an SSN to drive a car but the State wants to exert power over deadbeat dads (even if you are a woman and/or have never sired kids).
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