RSS/Atom Feed
The contributors to this blog are a diverse group of lawyers and law professors who practice, teach, or write about consumer law and policy. Although the blog is hosted by Public Citizen's Consumer Justice Project, the views expressed here are solely those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the institutions with which they are affiliated. To view the blog's statement of policies, please click here.
« New Predatory Lending Legislation a Possibility | Main | Another Week, Another Ninth Circuit CAFA Ruling »
BoingBoing has the story of a car dealership that refused to sell a car without first taking the buyer's thumbprint. The story also links to a Consumerist post about banks with the same policy. One of the banks apparently cited the Patriot Act for its requirement of demanding a customer's thumbprint before cashing a check.
Is this a new privacy problem in the making?
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b7a769e200d8352d219169e2
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Retailers Demanding Thumbprints: A New Trend?:
This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.
ABA Section of Antitrust Law, 2009 Consumer Protection Conference
June 18-19, 2009, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC
American Bar Association 2009 Annual Meeting
July 30-August 4, 2009, Chicago, IL
Federal Trade Commission, Protecting Consumers in Debt Collection Litigation and Arbitration: A Roundtable Discussion
August 5-6, 2009, Northwestern School of Law, Chicago, IL
18th Annual
Consumer Rights Litigation Conference, sponsored by the National Consumer
Law Center
October 22-25, 2009, Philadelphia, PA
Banks have been asking for thumbprints to cash checks for at least a decade.
If this is a privacy problem, it's an old one.
Posted by: Elliott | Monday, March 19, 2007 at 05:57 PM
Of course it's a privacy problem. We already get data-raped for everything we're worth. If they collect thumbprints, DNA, etc, what's to stop them from sharing it or keeping it forever? How will you keep it out of governement databases? What if you get a Starbucks Coffee in the morning and there's a murder there that night? Your thumbprint is in the place so they come and question you?
It's your right to be anonymous unless you are strongly suspected (with evidence) of being a criminal or have been proven a criminal. In all other cases, you still have rights (or you're supposed to anyway).
Posted by: Jeremy | Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 07:01 AM
Whose thumb print did you use for this psot. Hope he/she doesn't mind having it on the internet!!!
Posted by: Mahlon | Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 09:01 AM
I'm pretty sure California law requires a fingerprint on an auto sale as an anti-identity theft measure. Consumers advocates in CA did not support this--I can't remember who was behind it.
Posted by: Chris Hoofnagle | Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 09:31 AM