Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!husc6!m2c!wpi!macman From: macman@wpi.wpi.edu (Christopher Silverberg) Newsgroups: alt.bbs Subject: Re: BBS Birthdays. Message-ID: <6869@wpi.wpi.edu> Date: 17 Jan 90 17:24:16 GMT References: <33661.25b18c71@kontu.utu.fi> <6851@wpi.wpi.edu> <1990Jan17.035305.29494@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester ,MA Lines: 32 GL> Sure, you have the right to ask me my social security number. GL> And I have the right to not answer. Agreed... i dont think that point was ever argued. GL> It's not a question of what the rights are, we're talking about GL> what's "reasonable". Most people in the US just want to be GL> reasonable. I gladly tell my birthday to my friends. Perhaps we GL> define "friend" in a different fashion. Agreed also... i never said that asking for the birthdate was reasonable. That is a personal opinion... in the origional message, i was responding to the claim that it was illegal to do such. GL> Oh, you made another posting about a store which uses a driver's GL> license to check personal checks. If that store required a SSN to GL> write a check, I could sue and win. If the store only accepted GL> checks from people over 30, I could sue and win. Retail activities GL> are entirely different from hobby activities such as a BBS. But i never said that the store required the SSN... it requires the licence number AND the birthdate... but there is not restriction against age. And i guess you're right in that retail activities are a bit different than BBS's... a retail store is open to the public and under their business licence, they can't discriminate against their customers. Yet a BBS is under no such licence, and can freely discriminate on basis of age, sex, haircolor, or shoe size :-) -- ============================================================================== (.) (.) | Chris Silverberg, WPI Box 719 | BBS Sysop: Main Street U.S.A u | USENET: macman@wpi.wpi.edu | 2400 baud - (508) 832-7725 \___/ | BITNET: macman@wpi.bitnet | Fido: 322/575 - Second Sight BBS