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Disney World Collecting Fingerprints

cvd6262 writes "Disney World is now requiring all visitors to have their index and middle fingers scanned to gain entrance to the park. This started for season pass holders, but is now required for everyone." From the article: "'I think it's a step in the wrong direction,' Civil Liberties Union spokesman George Crossley said. 'I think it is a step toward collection of personal information on people regardless of what Disney says.'"

14 of 539 comments (clear)

  1. They did this last year, still news? by Oz0ne · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They do it to allow a day pass to go in and out, without being used by multiple people.

    Seems like a nicely elegant solution to me!

  2. Re:Wrong. by kg4gyt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Busch Gardens Williamsburg has been using the hand geometry scanner for years as well, cuts down on the cost to produce season passes.

  3. Simple Solution... by DesScorp · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...don't go to DisneyWorld. End of problem. It's a private park, not government or public property. Don't like their policies? Don't do business with them.

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    Life is hard, and the world is cruel
  4. Re:Abuse by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Secure it?? They will sell it. Or government will force them to release ie.

    Sell what? Your prints? Or the reams of data they already have, like so and so has visited there 5 times in the last 3 years, and spent an average of $275 each visit.
    They already do that. No prints needed.

    Or what about Boston and the thousands of cameras they put up? Then Chicago and the 3,000 cameras they put up?

    You want cameras? Go to England.

  5. Re:Parent is not troll, makes good point by InvalidError · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If there is zero checking on season passes, many people will setup pass pools and rent-a-pass style things... for pools, people put down a pass' worth in cash and get a pro-rata refund minus processing fees after an amount of time equivalent to a pass' validity period. For rent-a-pass, people would put down a safety deposit and the refund would be the pass's cost divided by the typical number of rentals per pass.

    In large pools and rent-a-pass networks, there could be something like one pass per hundred users since not everybody goes to WDL every day of the week for the full day.

  6. Re:Wrong. by Seumas · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sorry. I don't conesnt to a biometric scan of anything. Period. If soomeone else so desperately wants to go to Disneyland that they're willing to give up any number of privacies and rights, that's their business. I respect mine just a little too much to give them up for a ride in a fucking tea-cup.

  7. Re:Abuse by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They were forced to send all their passengers data to the government.
    From what I heard, that is not quite true. Apparently, the feds told the airlines that they did not have to turn over the info. But if they did not, the US gov. would forbid ALL employees from flying the airline. In addition, they would not be eligible for the loan (did not help United, but I am not sure that United gave up the data). Finally, they might have a hard time making changes at airports, flights, etc.

    Basically, GWB's admin guaranteed that if they did not cooperate, that the feds would sink them slowly.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  8. Re:Parent is not troll, makes good point by facelessnumber · · Score: 3, Interesting

    not everybody goes to WDL every day of the week for the full day.

    Yes, but they could if they wanted to. They shouldn't sell shit like that if they're counting on it not being used. This is like a web hosting company overselling its resources, and counting on the fact that the customers won't all decide to use what they bought.

    This is their fault. Don't sell me a 6mbps cable modem on an "unlimited usage" plan and bitch at me or shut me off when I max it out. And so what if I share it with my neighbor? The bandwidth has been paid for. If my subscription is a net loss to you, then you should have sold me less or charged me more.

    If they want to reward and encourage people who go to Disney parks regularly, maybe they should do it differently. I don't buy some kind of personalized, reduced-rate sandwich card at Subway. They give me these little stamps, that I can redeem later when I have several of them. Maybe they could do some kind of "frequent flyer" style program. Hell, I don't know. There are a hundred other ways to do this that don't involve personal surveillance.

    And I'm not even saying that the passes should go unchecked. Maybe their current model is fine. There are other ways to check ID. Maybe instead of machines to scan your hand and get people through lines quicker, they should have more people looking at IDs. (And I mean looking. That's it. That's all that's neccessary. Not writing down what's on it or keying it into a database. That's right, more wage-earnging human beings. Disney can afford it.

  9. oh no! my personal info!! by akhomerun · · Score: 1, Interesting

    OMG now they know my finger geometry! would the government even WANT to buy that? who cares! from what some people have been saying, it doesn't even work half the time! it can't even be that accurate.

    many people probably have the same finger geometry, this is just a tool to prevent someone from using someone elses pass and there's probably about a 1 in 100,000 chance of you having similar finger geometry to another person, not a 1 in 6 billion chance like you would for a finger print scan.

  10. Re:I couldn't agree more by Tassach · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I concur completely. Disney represents the epitomy of corporate greed and hipocricy, as well as the mediocrity of pop culture. If it were up to me, they would get none of my money; unfortunately my wife and kids have different ideas.

    That said, I won't be visiting any of their parks in the forseeable future. The only finger of mine they'll be seeing is the middle one.

    --
    Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
  11. Re:ACLU can shove it. by maxpublic · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ownership doesn't give you the right to make up any rules you like.

    Funny, that's how it works on my property. I tell my guests they can either follow my rules or leave - and they can leave any time they like. But there is no third option available to them.

    In the land of the free I'm free to make the rules that govern my property, and you're free to leave (or not enter the property in the first place) if you don't like the rules. Freedom all around, for everyone concerned.

    Max

    --
    My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
  12. Re:I call bullshit by IgnoramusMaximus · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Are there that many passholders with friends?

    You are confusing common-sense business with the activities of mega-corporations. Once corporations become as large as some small countries, they too develop an unquenchable thirst for power and control over others, the sheep known as "consumers" in particular.

    So they deploy police-state mesures, even if they are actually losing money on the specifics. The general idea however is that enslaving "consumers" will in the long-term result in an uninterruptible (regardles of economics) income. Disney (like many other corporate nation-states) has been engaged in these activities for a very long time.

    You did not think DMCA was about piracy, now, did you?

  13. Also in Europe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Does anyone know if this is also being done in Eurodisney near Paris?

  14. Why not use another high tech method? by DaCool42 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Like, say, putting your picture on the pass.

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    All of whose base are belong to the what-now?