At 3:03 PM -0700 6/1/97, Robert A. Costner wrote:
Why does the store need my social security number for me to purchase soft drinks and eggs? (40 cents off on eggs this week) I see no reason for it. If I provide a false number, I have probably committed some crime.
Why does the store "need" to sell Yahoo but not RC Cola? Why does the store "need" to place the eggs back in the dairy department instead of in the bacon and sausage department? Why does the store "need" to do the things it does? Because the store is owned by its owners, not the shoppers, not the courts, and not the legislatures. What it does, or what it asks for, are its business, and the business of its shareholders, managers, etc. Pressure from the customers may of course cause policy changes, but this should not be confused with the passage of laws. As should be well known by now, such "consumer clubs" are modern marketing gimmicks to a) encourage repeat business, and b) provide a discount to locals without also providing a discount to "walk-ins" (travellers, tourists, etc.). I have no idea why they want a SS number, except perhaps that they see every government office demanding it and so they think it is part of the ID process. I of course would not give it. One is always free to turn down their offer of a 40 cent discount on eggs. Sounds fair to me.
Yes, I would support a law that forbids private companies to ask for social security numbers except for tax purposes.
To put it as politely as I can manage, you have no conception of what it means to live in a free, uncoerced society. No wonder the EFF is so fucked up. --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."