Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!bu.edu!bu-cs!m2c!wpi!macman
From: macman@wpi.wpi.edu (Christopher Silverberg)
Newsgroups: alt.bbs
Subject: Re: User Verification
Message-ID: <6852@wpi.wpi.edu>
Date: 17 Jan 90 02:23:13 GMT
References: <59.25B39568@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us>
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester ,MA
Lines: 53

In article <59.25B39568@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us> mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) writes:
>What if you don't have a driver's license?  Not necessarily under
>16/17/18/whatever, but just don't choose to drive?  What if you *are*
>under the driving age?  Does that automatically make you a second-class
>user?  What if the person is from out-of-state?
>What if I don't feel comfortable giving you my driver's license number,
>and all the information it entails?  I can understand real name,
>mailing address, phone number, etc. -- Even age or occupation.  But
>why should I tell you what kind of car I drive?  Or how many tickets
>I've had?  Or my social security number?  Or what color my hair,
>eyes, etc. are?

Personally, i think the idea of asking for a driver's licence is
a bad one... i dont even like the birthdate thing.. but that is my
preference as a sysop... but folks, let's recognize that the sysop
has every right to ask any personal information he wants. If a sysop
is going to ask stupid questions, than that board will suffer because
people wont call...  And users who dont like it, will just miss out...

>I would suspect that a service whose purpose is to look up a driver's
>license number and report back the information to the person making
>the request is either illegal (in some states), or should be.  The
>information I give the state is for their use only; selling it to
>a third party without my consent and/or knowledge is not only pretty
>slimey, but it's an invasion of privacy.

"invasion of privacy".... no no no... let's think about this... is the
sysop looking up the users information WITH or WITHOUT their permission?
Well, i'll answer that... if the user provides that information, then
it is WITH permission.

I'm sure there are laws regarding consent for using the information, and
the extent at which private information can be used, but security checks
are quite common in our world today, not just by government, but by
private groups also (like BBS's)

For instance.. i work at a store that has about 300 locations across
the country, so it is fairly well established. Let's say a customer decides
to purchase something with a personal check... if i were processing the
order, we then check the check against the drivers licence, and THEN enter
in the licence number, state, and birthdate into the computer (CRT).
In two minutes, a check on the customer's credit history is performed, and
if the persons history is questionable, it would respond with a CALL FOR 
APPROVAL. Doing that would involve giving all the personal information
to the approval company and they would then approve/disapprove it.

Now according to the origional message, i guess this would be an 
invasion of privacy... but it is pretty obvious that is is not.

-- 
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