Posted on 11/21/2001 12:00:54 PM PST by Jean S
Edited on 06/29/2004 7:08:27 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
When James Glave arrived at Oakland International Airport and went to retrieve the rental car he had reserved over the Internet, he was dismayed to learn that the agency not only required his driver's license and payment information, but also his thumbprint.
(Excerpt) Read more at wired.com ...
LOL
Bogus customer rents cars with bogus ID.
B.c. delivers car to Soprano chop shop. Car chopped.
Rental company loses many cars to Soprano car theft chop shop operation.
Profits collapse.
Dividends disappear.
Shareholders unhappy with stock price collapse demand better methods of security. Thumbprint.
Remember the episode in the Soprano's where Chris pays some Asian guy to take his broker's license test?
Remember how many of the hijackers had phony IDs drivers licenses etc.
Proof of identity will become even more important in the future. Will you object to providing a physical description of yourself?
I would ask them to weigh the benefits of being printed against not getting the job..
There is a plan being put forth that everyone in America have a "travel" card (National ID by another name) with a picture,a thumb print,and a chip with information from one or more of the many national data bases.....
Sorry stu..but I don't like it...
The market (through investors) will decide if the losses from consumer boycott will outweigh losses from stolen rental cars.
Proof of identity will become even more important in the future. Will you object to providing a physical description of yourself?
Yes, I will object. And I'll make my preference known to the market in the only language it speaks - with my dollars.
My point though is that it is necessary in certain circumstances to be able to prove that you are who you claim to be and IDs are not reliable.
At what price freedom? The safest place in the world is China......God help us!
There will be no serious boycott of this company for requiring fingerprints. Considering the fact that the per rental profit is fairly low it would take hundreds of boycotters refusing rental to offset the loss of even one car.
This is a tempest in a teapot.
Does a person renting someone else's car have a right to anonymity?
I'm not taking a stand on fingerprints per se, but identification is something that does matter. Specifically: my right to be free from having someone else masquerade as me. There's the rub...
No job or school has ever required fingerprints or any other biometric information of me. And I strongly object when SSN is asked for to the point that I'll refrain from doing business with those that demand it, if I can possibly do so. If someone isn't from the Social Security Administration, they don't need to know my SSN, period.
There will be no serious boycott of this company for requiring fingerprints.
Just look at what happened when they put GPS trackers in cars and started fining people for speeding. They dropped that idea like a hot potato.
Considering the fact that the per rental profit is fairly low it would take hundreds of boycotters refusing rental to offset the loss of even one car.
I'm doing my part. If you are correct and profits favor fingerprinting, I'll do without rental cars. Firms that disrespect my privacy and treat me like a prospective criminal will not find my money in their cash register.
This is a tempest in a teapot.
This is a single example of a much larger, and extremely important issue - privacy.
No. The customer is voluntarily entering a contract with a private party. If the customer doesn't like the terms of the rental agreement, they can decide not to enter the contract.
The car's owner has private property rights that allow him to make requirements of customers as he sees fit. If the car owner requires more than the market is willing to bear, whether it be high prices or fingerprints, the market will respond negatively and the car owner may be pressured by economic concerns to reconsider the terms of his contract.
The only rights relevant to this case are private property rights, and the right to voluntarily enter or decline a contract.
Using mechanisms that result in higher charges to the customer such as tracking devices etc. are much different than mere security means of assuring identity. I would certainly not rent a car with those mechanisms but have heard nothing about them being dropped.
There is no privacy issue here; unless you wear gloves at all times you leave your fingerprints everywhere everyday.
Oh, I see. If someone does something wrong for long enough, it isn't wrong anymore. Thanks for helping me with that.
Obviously your employer will have to have that number.
That is because they deduct steal money from my check for Social Security. I call it stealing because I'll never see a dime of that money because it's been lost in the government's unconstitutional ponzi scheme.
Amazing how one constitutional violation (creating Social Security) leads to all sorts of problems.
If the employer uses the SSN for any other purpose, or discloses it to anyone but Social Security, they have violated my privacy.
And it is known to just about anyone who wants to know it.
"Momma, the kitchen is on fire!"
"Don't put it out, son. Light the living room on fire too."
Thinking of it that way puts slippery slope arguments into persective.
You don't tell hospitals or insurance companies?
Nope. They aren't the Social Security Administration, so they can KMA.
BTW none of your retorts are convincing and are beside the point.
We were discussing privacy here, right?
Today thumbprints, tomorrow DNA samples. And soon a bio-implants to make sure your a subject of the UN's new one world government. Anyone without the required implant will not be allowed to buy nor sell.
It is most difficult to free slaves from the chains they worship
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