Government IDs, was: A Shameful Surrender to Pornographers

[ lot's snipped ] TELECOM Digest Editor noted to snipped-for-privacy@arcnet.com:

> Now a few remarks about the rest of your letter:
>> You claim drugs are illegal for anyone to use. That is >> false. Tobacco products require one to be at least 18 and the >> store clerk has to check your age. To use your illustration, what then >> prevents the store clerk from making a little 'secret list' of names >> (ala Joe McCarthy) copied from ID cards and abusing this list of >> names? Alcohol (another drug) is available if you are over 21. What >> prevents the bartender/7-Eleven clerk from compiling the same sort of >> abusive list? > The fact that they only look at the ID, they don't capture the > information. I suppose if someone had perfect recall they could create > such a list, but I doubt the people who stand behind the register at > 7-Eleven have that good a memory.

Here in NYS, and I've read of similar techniques in other states, bars (alcohol) and other vendors (cigarettes, numerous drugs) which believe they have to do an ID check have gone beyond just looking at a drivers license.

Since such documents are often forged, numerous vendors are providing specialized barcode/magnetic stripe readers which the merchant can slide the card through so as to "verify that it's real".

This gives the merchant (and ... the machine provider ... and lots and lots of databases ...) the name, address, age, and lots of other info regarding the purchaser.

Oh, and of course, it's matched with what was bought.

And this info is bought, sold, bartered, folded, spindled, but never mutilated. In other words, it's there forever.

_____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key snipped-for-privacy@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]