I know. Stores have these padded areas on the counter with signs that say “don’t put your credit cards in this area. It may render them unreadable.”
I’m thinking I’m going to start rubbing my driver’s license all over that area.
CA and AZ both do. No barcodes, though. The fake ID that my buddy and I bought jug wine with was from Massachusetts. It was his card, so I never really got that close a look at it.
Scanning an ID is used to build a database for marketing purposes. That could be good or bad, depending upon how you may feel about your personal details being on another database.
As for me, if you can read my ID and compute my age from it in your head, that’s all you’re going to get. I don’t even “sign” my credit card purchases if I have to write it in that little electronic window. I just draw a line across. Many clerks don’t even bother to compare my signature. If they question me, I tell them I will only sign a paper receipt. Sure, they can scan my written signature from a paper receipt but I’ll be damned to give them an easy out.
My Oregon license doesn’t have a barcode, but does have some sort of scannable strip on the lower right next to the organ donor notation. It was issued in 2006.
Scanning one of those silly store club cards is used for marketing purposes. They want to know how much pizza, beer & potato chips I buy. I’m free to make up a name. Which I do.
Scanning my driver’s license to track my alcohol & medicine purchases bothers me. Thus far, I don’t need my ID to buy a bag of Fritos. Yet.
FWIW, I’m pretty sure my employer just uses those cards to remind its customers to come to our store and not the competitor’s, using ridiculous discounts and such to keep them coming back. It’s a good thing, too; I’ve worked for both chains, and although this one is waaaaaaay better to work for, IMO the other one is actually a better store in a lot of ways.
I read an article somewhere where some journalists did an investigation by signing things like “Mickey Mouse” on their credit card purchases, and noboby even noticed.
I think at this point, the scanners a typical liquor store or nightclub has will just show the same information that should be on the ID itself. Liquor stores and nightclubs just want to cover their ass against fake IDs. BUT, that ID has a number which, if fed into a database, can reveal a lot of information. The nightclub doesn’t really care about that information, but that nightclub might receive an offer to sell its database. The info goes out, the data about you becomes more and more consolidated, and pretty soon they (marketers, generally) can put together a good profile about you.
It’s much worse than that: http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit_card/index2.html
My store cards are so scratched up from being in my pocket that the bar code numbers aren’t readable - so when I ring out the girl at the register just enters a generic discount number. So I get the discounts still, and at least some extra measure of privacy.
Pretty good trick, figured I’d pass it along.
Although I’m unlikely to step out of the store and have a black car pull up for a “Sooo, ramen soup and cough medicine again, eh Mr Thrasymachus? Hop in, we’re going for a ride…” type encounter - all the invasive marketing and govt data-mining stuff has me more than a little annoyed these days.
I don’t think you’re right about this. I’m way too tired to look for a cite, though I did hear an anecdote from someone who was the target of such a sting operation, they simply asked the person attempting to purchase the alcohol if they were over 21 and they said “no”. I’ll look for a cite tomorrow.
the nightclub where i work does not do a swipe on ids. but out crowd is older - generally the youngest of our clientele are late twenties. plus we have an ongoing & very friendly relationship with 52 division – it’s not a get-out-of-jail-free card, but it is a (in case of shit) give-us-a-minute-to-handle-this-in-house card.
but many clubs/bars here do swipe dl’s, or otherwise record id information.
there are three reasons why a club in this city might swipe/copy your id;
firstly, they may have been busted within the past couple years for allowing underagers on premises during service hours (if so, the swipe is the corporate version of probation, i.e comply or die.)
secondly, they are establishments with reputations for allowing illegal activities, but no proof is available. still, they are on the verge of being busted. (this is where copy vs. swipe might show up, in case of shit.)
thirdly, there are a few (and only a few) owners in the city who really, honestly do everything by the book, even when they don’t have to.
what happens when your dl is swiped:
well, if it’s an ontario dl, or if it is a dl from one of many provincial & state govt.'s that actually communicate and act together on a regular basis (about 1/3 of the 63 in ontario’s case) it is either a) accepted b) rejected (stolen, cancelled.) or c) accepted with note {i.e. for warrants issued, etc.} in which case entrance to the premises is allowed, but police are notified that a wanted person is in x location, and door staff should note appearance, then play only a secondary or tertiary role in apprehending suspect, if necessary.
also note that if you are from those few provinces, or much of the states, there is nothing to be swiped… or at least, nothing to swipe here that can be read. it might get you in… or it might get you directions to the nearest embassy. depemds how polite you are.
but if they want ya, man, the mounties wil still get ya. eventually. really. it’s like their mottp & everything.
At places like that, it’s really easy to get the discount unless your cashier is having a really unusually bad day or something. I just say I forgot it or that I don’t have time now but I really want to sign up for the card sometime, or that I usually shop with my roommate and he swipes his card. Just about anything will get you the discount. I’ve never owned one of those cards (except the one at my work, which employees are required to have–using my employee discount would allow my purchases to be tracked just as well, so it doesn’t bother me), and I’ve never paid full price at grocery stores and such that ask for one.
Nonsense. If cops had to reveal their sting operations, nobody would ever get stung. It has all the hallmarks of a UL: authority figure tries to shut down an operation, but the everyman uses a simple but clever strategy to foil his plans.
That’s kinda scary.
Now that I think about it, I do recall a local pub here in California which swiped peoples’ IDs if they looked young. I forgot about this as it was a few years ago and I really don’t club hop very much. I noticed the reader device on the waiter’s belt and asked him about it. He said it’s used to verify whether an ID is real or not. I took out my (at the time) old Maryland state driver’s license and asked him to swipe it through his reader. It’s old and tattered from being in my pocket for years and he couldn’t read anything from it. “So, does that mean I can’t drink here?” “Nah, you look old enough and it seems real.”
I’d feel better if all a business was doing was verifying whether or not my ID is real or not. But then again, at what point is the business crossing the line?
For instance, from recent illegal immigration threads I’ve learned that businesses are forbidden from verifying whether an ID is genuine or not. It just has to look sort kinda real. “Ok, you’re hired.”
But if I want to buy booze or medicine, businesses are required to verify my ID’s authenticity?
after talking with one of the doormen at my club (who is an ex-cop) i need to clarify about the id scanners sending info to police:
those types are available, but rarely used. most (at least in toronto) just verify if the id is legit, and record the name, picture (which is digitally encoded in the swipe stripe) and time/date of the swipe to a hard drive. the information is stored indefinitely, and is freely shared with police if they ask.
For politicians, that’s a perfectly valid reason in and of itself. Paranoid and frightened people tend to vote for politicians who claim to have the answers and can make them feel safe. (Doesn’t matter that the “solution” is actually pointless: the* perception* of action being taken is all that matters.)
SO WHEN DID WE PASS A FEDERAL LAW that requires essentially background checks and manditory disclosure of names, addresses, DL#, and physical chararistics to simply purchase alcohol or tobacco nationwide?
Funny I don’t remember, nor do I consent to having to essentially sign my name electronically that I purchasesed Alcohol or Tobacco. (I am 65 incidentally) The problem here is not just the idea of scanning my license so the idiot clerk that cannt read the sign that says if you were not born before this day 15 Dec 2003 YOU CANNOT PURCHASE ALCOHOL. . .can ostensibly prevent me from illegally purchasing alcohol.
WHAT I OBJECT TO. . is the bar, Liquor store whatever keeping my name, DL#, Address, DOB and physical characteristics on file associated with every 6 or 12 pack I purchase at the grocery store, or bottle of Whiskey I purchase at the liquor store.
No one seems to consider the possibility that if the stores are collecting the information, so is the state. . Next week I get a visit from the social welfare or Alcoholic Beverage commission advising me that I have been purchasing “Too much alcholol” and that it is dangerous, or that I may have purchased alcohol an hour before someone saw a car meeting my cars discription driving drunk on the Freeway, and BY THE WAY. . you are under arrest!
Whatever legal product I purchase is no business of the Government, nor do I want a store to keep track of my alcohol purcahases. It is illegal, but everyone seems to think, “What a great idea” If it is so profound, LETS JUST BAN ALCOHOL AGAIN. . how did it work out before?
My drivers license is not a library card for the government to keep track of what I purchase and use legally.
-Wesley
Welcome to the SDMB! You woke up a thread from 18 years ago, by replying to a person who hasn’t posted since 2018, to make your first impression here. Interesting choice.
The grocery store is a private company and can decide to carry out its legal responsibilities in any way it sees fitting, and it doesn’t need a federal law in order to set its own policy. If the idea of having your name on file in a computer bothers you so much (but not so much that you didn’t give your name and bank account to an ISP so you could get online), perhaps you should take your business elsewhere.
Oh…I thought “swiping one’s ID” meant confiscating it, if temporarily.
No, that’s pretty common.
And I don’t doubt the information is or can be used for demographic reasons for market research/development. Probably the corner five-and-dime or gas station does not have a team of GIS specialists or market researchers on the payroll.
Not a problem for me…I’ve already got my wallet out, so do whatever. And at my regular grocery stores, despite corporate rules, they just don’t care (usually the self-service attendants or the check-out people in regular “lanes”) so they type in some bogus birthdate.
Those are places where I’m known and where they have a comparative bunch of oldsters, some of whom have probably complained via comment cards or something like that.
Which kind of annoys me, in some cases, since it would often take less time for me to unsheath my DL and scan it myself…but whatevs.