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ID Tech May Mean an End to Anonymous Drinking

Posted by timothy on from the say-were-you-going-to-finish-that-martini dept.

Anonymous Howard writes "If you visit a lot of bars and restaurants, you've likely crossed paths with driver's license scanners — machines that supposedly verify that your license is valid. In actuality, many of these scanners are designed to record your license information in addition to verifying them, and those that authenticate against a remote database are creating a record of when and where you buy alcohol. Not only that, but they're not even particularly effective — the bar code on your license uses an open, documented standard and can be rewritten to change your age or picture. Collecting our driver's license information is one thing, but collecting data about our personal drinking habits is not only a violation of, according to the ACLU representative quoted in the article, privacy and civil liberties, but this 'drinking record' could also create problems for people in civil and criminal lawsuits as proof of alcohol purchases in DUI cases or evidence of alcoholism in divorce lawsuits."

4 of 514 comments (clear)

  1. Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    No more irresponsible nigger DUIs!

    Though, "irresponsible nigger" is a bit redundant.

  2. Re:Target for Some Civil Disobedience by Libertarian001 · · Score: -1, Troll

    That is not civil disobedience; it's breaking the law. You were kind enough to tell us you're old enough to drink, which means you're old enough to vote. If you don't like something, go vote.

    The only reason society works is because we all agree to abide by the rules. The reason that everyone (except fundamentalist Islam) is so gung-ho for democracy is because it is perceived to be the most fair because everybody has a choice. The only reason democracy works is because people agree to abide by results, i.e., they will accept a loss because they had a hand in the say-so process.

    When you are specifically excluded from the process (after having reached your majority, but nice try playing the age card) THEN AND ONLY THEN can you claim civil disobedience.

  3. Re:I remember hearing in 2002 about this by ivan256 · · Score: 1, Troll

    That turned me off. I don't recall buying alcohol myself at that mart. What I think is stupid is swiping the ID of someone who obviously is well above 25 or 30, and doesn't appear to be wearing spy or makeup-artist appliances.


    You wouldn't think it was stupid if you were the owner of the convenience store....

    That store now has a nice record saying they carefully verified the age of ever customer purchasing alcohol or tobacco. So when some 13 year old gets caught smoking and some "I'm a perfect parent" mother decides to blame the corner store for selling cigarettes to her kid instead of her inability to do her job as a parent, the store doesn't lose its two primary profit centers for 90 days while its license is suspended. It also doesn't have to worry about being sued when some drunken 19 year old gets into an accident and one of the victims tries to go for a jackpot verdict against the store that "sold the alcohol". It probably gets a nice discount on its insurance premium for the trouble too.

    The inability to shop for these products anonymously is the price we pay for the "luxury" of living in a litigious society.
  4. Re:And impact employment and insurance? by djrok212 · · Score: -1, Troll

    Allowing corporations to control your lifestyle while away from work is very dangerous. Regarding alcohol, the only legitimate concern of a company I work for is that I am sober when I show up for work and remain sober while I am on the clock. This is the time that they pay for, and they have a right (within limits of course) to determine what I do or don't do during that time. What I do in my private, off-time that they are not paying for is absolutely none of their business. Trying to monitor what I do during my private time away from work is nothing but an invasion of privacy that should never be tolerated for any reason. I honestly can't understand why there is even a discussion about this; it's patently obvious.
    I have to disagree here for two reasons... 1) What if the company provides you health insurance? By you drinking each night after work, you are increasing the likelihood that you will end up with several medical conditions, which the health insurance company will have to pay for, thus increasing the companies health insurance costs. 2) If you are an alcoholic and regularly miss work (call in sick, etc) then the company become liable for the cost of your alcohol treatment. Those of us who have nothing to hide, have nothing to worry about.