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From: mcal@ihuxb.UUCP (Mike Clifford)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: A new topic -- pressure from the victims
Message-ID: <1094@ihuxb.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 11-Jul-85 11:57:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxb.1094
Posted: Thu Jul 11 11:57:49 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jul-85 08:01:39 EDT
References: <3965@alice.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 25

> It seems to me that I've been in an increasing number of situations
> recently where someone has insisted that I do something I find
> obnoxious, and where their power to do so has rested in the fact
> that almost no other people stick up for their rights.
> Example:  a restaurant that refused to accept a traveler's check
> unless I showed them my driver's license.
I would like to know that if someone stole my traveler's cheques, they
would have a tough time cashing them because they would need to identify
themselves with a personal photo-bearing driver's license.
> Example:  have you ever read a lease for an apartment?  Carefully?
Have you ever owned property that you allowed others to use?
> Example:  when we bought our house, the water company wanted to be
> paid a year in advance!  (they bill quarterly)
This sounds unreasonable.	
> Example:  these days, when you pay for something with a credit card,
> the merchant will probably insist that you supply your name, address,
> and phone number.
Again, this is to detect the use of stolen cards.
> I used to get angry at companies that treat customers as criminals.
> Now I also get angry at all the people who make it possible: the
> customers who act like sheep and will apparently put up with any
> kind of silliness.
I don't think it is silliness and I "put up" with it because I think
it helps lower the cost of crime.
Mike Clifford