Mine doesn’t have social secruity number (dob, yes, but not SS)
Sigh It has to do with (I assume) a state law in Mass that allows the liquor store clerck to scan the state issued ID to check for age verification. Since the state of Mass writes liquor laws as well as handles ID’s, I’m sure you’re smart enough to see the connection.
It sucks, but whatchagonnado?
When I worked in a convenience store, we were required to take the license out of any clear plastic and inspect it by hand before we could sell anything requiring ID.
Just an FYI. We didn’t scan it though.
Likewise, Harborwolf. Up to my departure from the world o’convenience stores in 2001, we had to see the license so we could confirm it was real; Indiana’s DLs had that holographic overlay which wasn’t always visible unless you jiggled it under the light. Most customers were happier with getting it out than handing their entire wallet to a convenience store clerk, for all the obvious reasons. Also, the plastic frosted/matte finish windows on a lot of wallets tended to obscure the holograph of the state seal.
I should add, though, that scanning a license would be exactly the kind of thing that would make me look for another job were I still working there now.
Thank goodness for that. Don’t think about using this term if you come to the UK - it’s very close to a racist term used for convenience stores here.
Why don’t you present this question over in GQ before going all apeshit?
I was at a bar recently (Clark and Belmont area) where they had a similar device that actually took a picture of your license. I asked and the bouncer feigned ignorance to the whole process what the device was, but apparently they had a lot of problems with underaged kids (and legal people too) getting into fights and the device was a CYA thing to present to the police.
Whether or not the record was purged every evening or not I couldn’t tell you.
In Michigan they are “party stores”. Love that term!
I was at a tech conference this summer, and one vendor manufactured license verification systems. It turns out that many states are now encoding verification information into the strip on the back of the license. My license was relatively new, and the salescritter scanned it, and showed me how the system determined that, yes, in fact my license was legit, and that the photo had not been altered.
There was no privacy violation, as the only information in the strip verified and validated the human-readible information on the other side. The equipment they were using did not capture the information, although it certainly could do so.
As to whether or not you are obligated to have the license scanned at a package store: no are not. And they aren’t obligated to sell you booze if you don’t.
No, really, what does one have to do with the other, duller? Unless the state owns and controls all liquor stores I don’t get your tenuous connection.
I can speak from experience when I say that California has no such law allowing clerks to take possession of your card to scan it. I assume they started the practice because some moron clerk was selling booze/smokes to underage kids and got busted. It’s an extra layer of CYA.
Sam
Why don’t you kiss my ass, Junior Mod? The questions were mostly rhetorical, and just expanding on the rant. If I wanted a serious discussion of the issue, I know full well where to post it. Now do you have something to add to this conversation, or are you just here to blow your pretty pink Junior Mod Safety Patrol whistle?
:rolleyes:
-Rav
So why not just demagnetize the strip by running it over a speaker magnet? What’s the worst that could happen? A package store refuses your business? Fine with me, I would refuse to do business with them anyway had they informed me of their intent prior to swiping my card. And the cops? “Well, gee officer, I don’t know anything about that, it must be my magnetic personality”. I seriously doubt they can harass you because of a technology failure. He can still enter your number manually to get the same information.
Sure, I’ve got something to add, you’re a paranoid idiot. You want to go off on a huge fucking rant when you don’t even have enough knowledge to determine if your precious rights were being violated in any conceiveable fashion.
I’m also not being a junior mod, I’m pointing out that your rant is baseless garbage because you don’t have the information that your rhetorical question asked for. You assumed that someone cares enough about your pathetic existance to track your purchases of Milwaukee’s Best, and store it in a database.
The reality is that you don’t care to know more about this, you just want to have a chance to stomp on some minimum wage clerk for doing his job so you can feel like a big man standing up to the forces of evil.
BTW, feel free to illegally alter your drivers license, I’m sure such a thing could NEVER come back and bite you in the ass.
And how do you know demagnetizing it is illegally altering it, O knowledgable one?
Anyway - magnetic stripe encoding data. Looks like in many states, the information is there for anyone with a swiper to read. Interestingly, elsewhere on that site they said it was illegal in some states for alcohol sellers, etc, to swipe your license, Texas specifically, as of September 2003. Presumably this is to prevent the type of data gathering that got The_Raven riled up. (Pisses me off as well.)
(more info.)
The scanner doesn’t even have to be network connected. All it has to do is read the data off the strip, particularly the DOB, and display it to the clerk. Since it’s a lot harder to tamper with the magnetic strip, this is a pretty effective way to block amateur fake-ids and altered real-ids.
First off, all that is required for alcohol purchases is that my driver’s license is valid, and that the picture matches my appearance. Anything else IMHO is unreasonable . That’s enough to make me “want to go off on a huge fucking rant” . If you don’t like it, feel free to ignore this thread, and indeed feel free to add me to your ignore list. Oh and while you’re at it, also feel free to lick my hairy, stinky nutsack, m’kay?
Beg to differ on the Junior Mod thing, but when someone comes into a thread for the sole purpose of telling the OP that they should have posted to another forum, there’s a name around here for that, besides “being an officious prick”, that is. People who do such things really shouldn’t refer to the existance of others as “pathetic”, know what I mean?
Incidentally, in an article on Wal-Mart’s massive data collection, The New York Times notes that Wal-Mart has 460 terabytes of customer data stored on the company mainframes. A lot of retailers care enough to track my purchases, and yours too, and then they sell the data to marketing firms. Here’s a good example of the fun that companies like Acxiom can have with our lives:
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,588752,00.html
If you don’t care about such things, I hope you aren’t enough of a hypocrite to filter spam email, are you?
BTW, That Milwaukee’s Best crack’s fightin’ words! :eek:
Sorry, crusader for the downtrodden… I learned a long time ago that ,“You should never waste your time yelling at someone in a paper hat”. My words were with the owner. Oh, and compared to you, I am a big man… :wally
Now, see? There’s that Junior Mod thing again. Please run along now, and don’t forget to take off your Junior Mod Safety Patrol arm band before you leave school grounds, it does look kinda silly.
-Rav
He’s just trying to protect you from yourself… :eek:
Christ, Tubesteak, chill out.
Sam
Tell you what, that data collection bullshit enrages me. What I don’t get is why the government has to do a census every 10 years when the marketers already know exactly how many Hispanics live near every Burger King. Like fuck they don’t know who lives where.
I hate giving clerks my info. I make up phone numbers (WTF are they asking that for?) and my “Preferred Shopper” card profile states that I’m a 78-yr-old retired Eskimo general. Paying with cash is becoming more attractive all the time.
You’re right, it’s one thing to argue and call someone names, but that was just hitting below the belt. :o
In a somewhat calmer tone… you don’t really know if they are or are not collecting information, therefore you should probably find out before accusing them of such. Before ranting about how your privacy is being invaded, it seems prudent to find out if it actually happened. If they were using a detached reading machine to ensure the DL wasn’t a fake, then it’s not a privacy invasion, it’s merely a better sort of check than visual.
Second, if the state (in it’s infinite wisdom) sees fit to put a magnetic stripe or 2D barcode on the DL’s they distribute, then altering that stripe is equivalent to altering the ID. You get pulled over for speeding, and the cop swipes your DL, he’ll know you altered your ID, and that’s not gonna look good.