Brad Rosenheim

I rented a car last night. They had to take a photo of me and copy my driver's license. I tried to opt out of the photograph. They handed me back my license and credit card and told me they wouldn't rent me the car.

Hacking challenge: if anyone can find my photo from Budget Rental Cars, I'll start a legal process against them that could be turned into a class action (although I've probably already signed away my rights to do so).

Jun 28 at 3:43pmWeb
Show threadBrad RosenheimJul 12
As an employee of the State of Florida, this is the rental company I am obligated to use. To me, not only has Budget unilaterally changed the terms of their contract with me since I made this rental reservation, they have also unilaterally changed their contract with the state. I will see if the union can help me with this fight, but I will certainly take a swing at this.
Show threadevanJul 12

@Brad_Rosenheim

Ugh that sounds like a terrible experience, worse than the many problems I've had with Budget/Avis - and they're usually a few dollars cheaper than the others, so I end up with them for both work travel and the occasional times I need to rent a car for personal travel.

Show threadAlice Dubiel 🔬💉🦠😷🌬☮️Jul 12
@Brad_Rosenheim this is interesting. Did you go to another rental agency? Not having traveled without our own cars much in 5 years, I don’t know what privacy impacts may arise. We are traveling soon (by train) and I’ve booked a car at the destination, limited to EV choices, but it’s not Budget.
#travel #privacy #EV #carrental
Show threadBrad RosenheimJul 12
@odaraia It was unfortunately 2:30 AM due to a delayed flight and I had my kids with me. We had the rental for two weeks at a really cheap price, and there would be no way to guarantee a similar price or even availability at that time, and we had a 6 hour trip in the morning to make a rafting trip on the Grand Canyon. I had to begrudgingly allow them to take a photo. They even made me take my mask off.
Show threadAlice Dubiel 🔬💉🦠😷🌬☮️Jul 12
@Brad_Rosenheim Your experience is what makes traveling so draining. My sympathies to you and your children. I’m expecting some challenges but I hope they’re just car choices.
Show threadAlice Dubiel 🔬💉🦠😷🌬☮️Jul 12
@Brad_Rosenheim my husband noticed that Budget is now part of Avis (EV is booked through Avis). In my opinion, it’s important to challenge these privacy invasions in public, even if we ultimately comply. The company should be embarrassed and others might not even think of questioning their right to photos until they see your example. Hope you all had a good time at the Grand Canyon. Amazing place!🏞️🌄
Show threadBrad RosenheimJul 12

@odaraia Yes, I agree. We must target these corporate decisions which use out natural resources to invade our privacy.

The canyon was magical and we really enjoyed it!

Show threadBrad Rubenstein “” [OLD ACCOUNT]Jul 12

If one is a resident of California or some other U.S. jurisdiction with a CCPA equivalent, one can fill out the Avis Right to Request Deletion form, referenced in their Privacy Notice.

Whether this is a good idea, I could not say, IANAL.

@Brad_Rosenheim @odaraia

Privacy Web Form

Show threadBrad RosenheimJul 12

@BradRubenstein Thank you. I doubt Florida is a participant in this, so that is a good argument for our faculty union to take up the fight.

@odaraia

Show threadForrestGrumpJul 12
@Brad_Rosenheim Don‘t you guys have a pic on your license anyway?
Show threadBrad RosenheimJul 12

@MichaelimOdenwald Yes. But what Budget is doing is basically saying that they don't trust the humans who work the rental agencies to make a decision on whether the picture on the license matches reality. It is utterly ridiculous, unless they aim to replace human workers altogether.

And on the end of rental car return, companies have started to use AI to investigate every car for damage which will ultimately drive insurance costs way up as AI is probably well-suited for this job and will find every single ding and paint chip that cones with normal use of automobiles.

Show threadForrestGrumpJul 12
@Brad_Rosenheim Holy shit. They may already pass on all Information to #ICE?
Show threadBrad RosenheimJul 12
@MichaelimOdenwald Yes. And this is the outfit that I am contractually obliged to use for work travel as an employee of the State of Florida. I will be starting a big argument with HR about this when I get back to the office on Monday.
Show threadForrestGrumpJul 12
@Brad_Rosenheim Good luck!
Show threadCyberFrogJul 12
@Brad_Rosenheim this is almost as bad as Uber/Doordash/etc forcing strangers to take your government ID, take a photo of it, and run it through some 3rd party database using an app on their phone if you get certain items delivered (mostly alcohol)

on one hand, they do need to ID check people for this, on the other hand strangers doing it through a random mobile app is objectively awful... and you can't really know before a delivery that this is required, they don't explain any of it to anybody, they just specify there will be "an ID check" lol
Show threadTodd NelsonJul 12

@Brad_Rosenheim slightly off-topic, but I saw something recently about automatic license plate readers (Flock, see https://deflock.me/). Cameras track vehicle location but in today's America, the misuse of this data seems like a problem.

My city has a few of these cameras and is planning to install more.

DeFlock

Spot, map, and resist automated license plate readers (ALPRs) near you.

Show threadBrad RosenheimJul 12

@footsteps Yes. Supposedly there are transparent license tag covers that mess with the cameras but allow people to still see the tags. Probably soon to be a felony in the surveillance state.

https://www.radarbusters.com/iR-Invisi-Plate-Photo-Radar-License-Plate-Cover-p/ir-invisi-plate.htm?srsltid=AfmBOoqEl4mVnxyqMsKfbpHVfmP4RL3hT1TLbHIetPaimfcHt_kon-8Z