So I was in the liquor store buying some butts, and they have a new fingerprint scan payment type>>

[hang a left]

thingie.

It is the first time I have ever seen anything like it. It was a small black device with a screen and it appeared as if you would put your index finger on it, and it would scan your print to complete your payment.

Freaky!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I'm leery of those things

How accurate are they? And, more important, how do they get a valid print for a match?

[baldguy]

2. Why would I want to give my fingerprint to a liquor store?

What's next? A DNA sample?

[hang a left]

13. I don't think that it is just liquor stores.

I remember when they started that instant check debit. The first time I ever saw it was when I bought a skateboard for one of my kids maybe 8-9 years ago. They took your check, but you didn't make it out or even sign it. They accepted it as kind of like a debit card purchase.

[Little Wing]

3. Would be wise to only pay cash for cigs and liquor these days

You never know when Congress will give the Insurance companies the right to look through your purchasing habits and raise your rates

[TomInTib]

15. If they haven't already done so. nt

[kestrel91316]

4. I pay cash anymore for almost everything except rent, utilities,

business expenses, and the occasional online purchase.

They insist on my fingerprint to conduct a purchase, I say no thanks.

[Raine]

5. Those things can be by-passed

if the next person in line blows on it then it registers again for the last person who used it. It reheats and makes that last finger print look like it was just left.

[ContraBass Black]

7. Does that result in charging the last person's account too?

That sounds far too convenient.

[Raine]

14. I don't know about that but

I read in a computer magazine that by blowing on the former finger print you can get a door to open that uses fingerprints to allow access. It just goes to show that one needs to be skeptical of some of these "foolproof advances".

[sazemisery]

6. Oklahoma does this when you renew your DL

Scarry

[hang a left]

11. You have to give your thumbprint for a DL in California.

And right index finger print on checks that you cash

[napi21]

8. I don't understand why you have such a problem with a fingerprint?

It's on every drivers license in Ga, and probably other States too. If you're worried about the gov't, they already know more about you & I than WE DO!

I visit my local spirit shop every week, but I still think it's wrong for anyon under age to buy alcohol of any kind. If giving my spirit shop my fingerprint will help stop someteener from borrowing ID and buying his own, then that's fine with me.

[Clark2008]

18. My fingerprints aren't on file anywhere.

Which is odd, given what I used to do for a living.

[napi21]

20. Yours may not be, but I'd bet mos tpeople's are for one reason or another.

Mine were first filed when I took a jobworking for the Federal Reserve Bank back in 1972. Since then, they've been taken for DL's in several different States. I guess I still don't see a real problem giving your fingerprints for something? I have a lot more concern about the different places that demand your SS#. Of all the scarey things that bother me, identity theft is propaply #1. I sure never heard of anyone stealing my ID via my prints!

[hang a left]

25. Here's my beef...

They are starting to implement a type of paying that uses a fingerprint. It is a little spooky. It is the same type of introduction that was used when they implemented the bank debit card.

It just seems to me that they are trying to get the public at large to accept this form of payment.

What is next?

Iris accounts?

[AlCzervik]

9. were you paying with a check?

[Aviation Pro]

10. No thank you, cash only....

....

[KoKo]

12. Did you opt to give your "imprint?"

:shrug: Or, are you "funning" my post about giving "Name, Rank, Serial Number to Clothing Store for purchase?

[TheMadMonk]

16. Are you certain it was for payment? Were you told this?

Strikes me that the simplest explanation is that it's a biometric ID system for the store clerk to use to access the cash register.

My understanding is that no reasonably priced fingerprint scanner is sufficiently accurate to match an individual's print to one and only one entry in a large database. The best they can do is to match the test print to a known stored print and return a match/no match result. The rate of false positives for these devices is such that a general query would return hundreds if not thousands of matches from the DMV database.

So even if you know for a fact that your prints are all over a dozen crime scenes, you're safe from the scanner in the liquor store.



Still I do not like this kind of thing, (presuming my speculation is wrong, and the OP is correct in their surmise) since people are sheeple. Get them used to presenting their finger for booze and they won't squawk much when the same is required for cancer sticks, and then big purchases like cars and Plasma TVs. And then along about the time that the scanners do produce forensically reliable results, sheeple blissfully offer up their thumbs for milk and cookies, happy that they no longer have to bother with getting out their wallet.

[Clark2008]

17. Wait - you can buy cigarettes at a liquor store?

Here, the only thing you can buy at the liquor store is liquor.

[earth mom]

19. Screw that! They want to control us all-no doubt about it!

:tinfoilhat:

[Generic Brad]

21. I would take my business elsewhere

Big Brother can go to hell.

[City Lights]

22. Grocery stores in my area have them.

:scared:

I never use them.

[SheilaT]

23. Aside from the fact that

you shouldn't smoke (but you already know that) it's outrageous as well as absurd to take your fingerprint, no matter what you are purchasing. I'm as anti-smoking as a person can be, but even I think that's going much too far.

As for those states that require finger prints for a driver's license, I'd consider not getting a DL in that state, and I've been fingerprinted for three different jobs I've held.

Kansas, by the way, does not fingerprint for a DL.

[Melynn]

24. I like the idea

I try to buy and pay everything electronically instead of using cash or checks. It is just a lot more convenient. I wouldn't mind having a computer chip embedded under my skin just so I wouldn't have to fool with cards. Just pay with the wave of my hand. Cool!

Yes, I know that I'm in the minority on this issue. People for both the left and right hate the idea of using embedded chips to purchase items. No one likes the idea of either the government or any big organization being able to track your purchases. I understand that.

[mainer]

26. More and more stores are doing it

We were in a MUSIC STORE a few years ago and they wanted to scan a fingerprint. All we did was buy some sheet music. My hubby was so pissed off he told the clerk where he could go with his stupid machine. And the clerk shrugged, smiled, and said, "okay ,never mind."

If you don't want to, you don't HAVE TO DO IT.