Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)If I walk into a bar and order a drink I expect them to ask for ID to prove my age. If I walk into a McDonalds and buy a Big Mac I would not expect them to ask for ID to check my age and if they did I would not expect them to photocopy it and give it to Fred to keep in his poorly locked file cabinet.
Cogito ergo mecagoendios@grumpygamer Part of what entitles the bar to ID is that there is a very standard and "checks and balances" definition of alcoholic beverage published by the government and not, you know, whatever advertisers and visa and mastercard are currently feeling deserving of a threat to shut down the bar's complete access to the most basic payment services, based entirely on the vibes of whomever is currently writing the most complaint emails to them (usually a fundamentalist religious nutjob).
@grumpygamer Like, I WOULD oppose bar IDing too if the ID was asked of me for any item of the menu that some sunday church fanboy says is an instrument of the devil.
aspragg@elrohir @grumpygamer Are you sure that description doesn't also apply to the people who have historically pushed for the strictness of current alcohol laws? 🙂
@aspragg @grumpygamer I'm not focusing on the character of that kind of person but on the framework that gives them a "report" button, with no consequences for bad faith or oversentive complaining, and severe asymetry in workload between automatized take-downs and manual appeals. That's what makes the difference and not the personality of the pearl-clutchers themselves.
ScottMGS@elrohir @grumpygamer The temperance movement way back in the 18th century were exactly that. I don't know for sure that they're why we have the alcohol age restrictions we do here in 'Murica but I wouldn't be surprised.
acb@elrohir @cstross @grumpygamer Also, when you go to a bar, Google/Experian/Oracle don’t get a database row saying that Joe Bloggs, ID number hash ——, has a preference for mid-strength amber ales and salt & vinegar crisps or whatever, to correlate with their existing data about your phone usage, credit card purchases, financial status, political views and sexual proclivities
Ian Turton@elrohir @cstross @grumpygamer @acb at least some of the places I used to buy beer in Pennsylvania used to swipe my driver's licence to correlate it with my purchase
Eleanor Saitta@elrohir
@grumpygamer And even there, in the US many bars are basically scanning your ID and giving a copy to Fred these days.
@grumpygamer And even there, in the US many bars are basically scanning your ID and giving a copy to Fred these days.
jwz@elrohir @grumpygamer
Boy do I have some bad news for you about how liquor licensing actually works.
Most state and city boards impose truly egregious surveillance requirements on business owners who can't afford to fight back, because they make these demands when the business is at its most vulnerable (over budget, late, and trying to get open). They do this extrajudicially, through "permit conditions" rather than actual laws.
State and local cops look at Ring and say "hold my beer".