6 ms·

It's long past time to remove that regulatory friction. Instead, it's spread to other drugs. My wife got a cold last week and sent me off to get some other non-

It's long past time to remove that regulatory friction. Instead, it's spread to other drugs. My wife got a cold last week and sent me off to get some other non-pseudo drug. Despite being on the shelf, unlocked, it triggered a driver's license scan at checkout. Very dystopian.

tptacek 3y ago
It doesn't seem dystopian to me at all. I get carded when I buy alcohol; in fact, I got declined recently buying alcohol, because my license had expired, but would not have been for Sudafed, where the ID is just there to rate limit purchases. This is a very old, recurrent HN debate.
- alright2565 3y ago
  But you don't have your identity logged with the government when you buy alcohol. They just verify the age and forget all the information on your ID immediately.
  - tptacek 3y ago
    They're not rate-limiting my purchases of alcohol; they are rate-limiting my purchases of Sudafed. That's the only reason they need my ID for it. Meanwhile, the data they're theoretically collecting is useless. Everybody gets colds.
- vasco 3y ago
  > I got declined recently buying alcohol, because my license had expired Were they under the impression you might get younger when you renew your license or was this some kind of automated machine that auto-denies without any recourse?
  - School-Cotton 3y ago
    > some kind of automated machine that auto-denies without any recourse? This describes a lot of bureaucratically-minded humans, fwiw.
  - jaywalk 3y ago
    The reason they don't allow expired licenses for alcohol purchases is because an older, similar-looking person (sibling, etc.) could just give their expired license to someone who's underage.
    - pavon 3y ago
      They could do the same with current licenses, either temporarily or permanently. When I was in my 20's I had a stack of old but unexpired drivers licenses because having your current address on your license makes makes some things easier.
      - mattmaroon 3y ago
        That’s why a lot of places now scan the ID. Presumably the vast majority of times whoever lost/gave up/sold the ID got a new one from the local BMV and the old one will be flagged.
        xp84 3y ago
        I don't think (really, "I hope") that these scans aren't hitting the government database, allowing the government to easily build a dataset of every time you buy alcohol/tobacco/pornography/whatever -- that is uncomfortable even to me and I'm not really a libertarian. The 2d barcodes and magstripes on these cards do have all the info that's printed, though, so I would bet that a "gifted" ID that hasn't expired but which you've replaced or claimed as lost would still work at a retailer who scans IDs.
        jaywalk 3y ago
        Yeah, the scanners they use for age restriction are just standalone devices that show the age without the user having to figure it out themself.
        15155 3y ago
        They scan an unsigned, unencrypted PDF417 barcode with AAMVA encoding with no attestation or online verification features.

tptacek 3y ago

It doesn't seem dystopian to me at all. I get carded when I buy alcohol; in fact, I got declined recently buying alcohol, because my license had expired, but would not have been for Sudafed, where the ID is just there to rate limit purchases. This is a very old, recurrent HN debate.

alright2565 3y ago
But you don't have your identity logged with the government when you buy alcohol. They just verify the age and forget all the information on your ID immediately.
- tptacek 3y ago
  They're not rate-limiting my purchases of alcohol; they are rate-limiting my purchases of Sudafed. That's the only reason they need my ID for it. Meanwhile, the data they're theoretically collecting is useless. Everybody gets colds.
vasco 3y ago
> I got declined recently buying alcohol, because my license had expired Were they under the impression you might get younger when you renew your license or was this some kind of automated machine that auto-denies without any recourse?
- School-Cotton 3y ago
  > some kind of automated machine that auto-denies without any recourse? This describes a lot of bureaucratically-minded humans, fwiw.
- jaywalk 3y ago
  The reason they don't allow expired licenses for alcohol purchases is because an older, similar-looking person (sibling, etc.) could just give their expired license to someone who's underage.
  - pavon 3y ago
    They could do the same with current licenses, either temporarily or permanently. When I was in my 20's I had a stack of old but unexpired drivers licenses because having your current address on your license makes makes some things easier.
    - mattmaroon 3y ago
      That’s why a lot of places now scan the ID. Presumably the vast majority of times whoever lost/gave up/sold the ID got a new one from the local BMV and the old one will be flagged.
      - xp84 3y ago
        I don't think (really, "I hope") that these scans aren't hitting the government database, allowing the government to easily build a dataset of every time you buy alcohol/tobacco/pornography/whatever -- that is uncomfortable even to me and I'm not really a libertarian. The 2d barcodes and magstripes on these cards do have all the info that's printed, though, so I would bet that a "gifted" ID that hasn't expired but which you've replaced or claimed as lost would still work at a retailer who scans IDs.
        jaywalk 3y ago
        Yeah, the scanners they use for age restriction are just standalone devices that show the age without the user having to figure it out themself.
      - 15155 3y ago
        They scan an unsigned, unencrypted PDF417 barcode with AAMVA encoding with no attestation or online verification features.