I live in NY so im always in the orange alert according to our U.S. government. I have to go through constant bag checks and walk past the national guard in my train station every morning. I had to live watching the towers fall in person, so yes I feel safer when people have their bags checked while im on vacation, because its theoretically the only place i can feel safe.
You have my sympathies for having to watch such horrible events up close. I only watched it on TV and it deeply affected me.
I'm sorry that you have to live under "orange" alert all the time. And I'm truly sorry that NYC has become an armed camp, guarded by soldiers instead of ordinary cops, and that you have to go through bag searches constantly just to get on a train or into a building.
And if the bag checks at WDW make you feel safe, perhaps you should look around more the next time you're there - the bag checks A) are only done at the parks, so the resorts and DTD are unsecured, and B) the bag checks only check bags, so any dangerous stuff could easily be smuggled into the parks inside clothing or in pockets.
But those are separate issues from the one at hand, which is that Disney is collecting identifiers based on fingerprints which can be used to identify individuals, and that makes me uncomfortable.
Im sorry if I may have exaggerated your post, but your opinion is stating that we all are getting our rights infringed upon and Disney is breaking the rules by making us do this and we all need to stand up.Im taking your words exactly from your last paragraph.
Which last paragraph are you referring to? This one:
WillCAD said:
The point of my posts in this thread have all been that:
1) I am uncomfortable with the finger scan (for the reasons I listed above).
2) I do it anyway so I can get into the parks easier and quicker.
or this one:
WillCAD said:
There is always risk in life. Trying to eliminate risk is a fool's errand, but it is only prudent to take reasonable precautions, and to avoid the worst and riskiest behavior. Simple things like not mentioning your home address or phone number on the DIS boards, not accepting rides from strangers, not allowing your 6-year old to walk to school alone, and not automatically giving out any and all personal information that any company demands it, are reasonable precautions.
The whole finger scan at WDW is not as big a risk as broadcasting your home address over the internet, but it's one of those things that seems unnecessary and somewhat excessive for its purpose. And it's just one of many such minor instances of private companies or government agencies assembling databases of personal, private information.
Sure, they all say they're going to keep that info safe and never use it for anything bad, but considering the number of companies and government agencies who have had vital customer info lost, stolen, or hacked in the last few years, well... let's just say that some natural skepticism as to the purity of all human motives has come and sat upon my chest.
or this one:
WillCAD said:
1) Completely correct - I do have something to hide - it's called MY RIGHT TO PRIVACY. Don't you? If not, post your name, address and phone number on the open boards. I bet you won't - because you value your privacy. And so do I.
2) Maybe not, but it is undeniably a piece of data that can be used to identify a specific person. It doesn't matter if it's a fingerprint or a series of 1s and 0s that represent a fingerprint, or a sample of DNA - it's a unique identifier that points to a specific person.
3) WRONG. I don't feel guilty of anything - but I dislike having my privacy impinged upon. How would you like it if I read your diary or peeked into your windows? Both are invasions of your privacy, and so is the finger scan, albeit to a lesser extent.
Where in any of those did I say that Disney was breaking any rules? I did say they are impinging on our privacy by collecting and storing a piece of personal info that they don't need, but again, even though this makes me nervous and uncomfortable, it doesn't make me uncomfortable enough to not comply. However, I support anyone elses right to use ID instead of giving the finger scan, as long as that is Disney policy.
Your opinion may be scaring people into thinking that Disney is taking peoples identities or even worse, sending it to the U.S. Govt where they will eventually lose it to hackers (quoting a previous post of yours). Your opinion now isnt just an opinion, and thats why I called you out. Because people have the right to deny the scans or anything else, but by throwing heresay and hypotheticals of what COULD happen is when many people will "follow the leader" because they think they are getting taken advantage of.
So you think I'm scaring people? I've listed facts and cited examples, and explained what it is that makes me nervous about the finger scan. How is this different than you citing the example of having to go through troops and bag checks on your way to work every day? You have stated that NYC is under a constant state of orange alert and that you have troops guarding your train stations - wouldn't THAT make people scared, too? I dunno about you, but the idea of having troops permanently stationed at transportation portals around MY city would make me extremely scared.
As for the idea that the government could collect that info then lose it, that is based on cold hard facts - the government HAS collected data from businesses (Verizon telephone records, Google search terms, ISP records of customers' surfing habits), and the government HAS lost sensitive informant ion which was improperly stored on laptops that were lost or stolen (two from the VA, one from TSA just last week.) I don't think it's a stretch to say I'm nervous that this could happen with the info in Disney's database. I don't think it's any more paranoid to say, "They did it three times, they might do it again" than it is to turn our country into an armed camp because "the terrorists attacked once, they might do it again." That IS still just my opinion, an opinion I formed by examining the facts of the issue, and "calling me out" on it will not change the facts. Unlike others, however, I constantly re-evaluate my opinions as new facts come to light, and the newest fact relevant to this discussion id that the TSA - an agency responsible for some of the most sensitive and high-profile security in this country - lost a laptop with tens of thousands of people's info on it just last week.
The truth is Disney has released why they do it, read the allears article. What this thread is doing is giving people ideas that if they bypass the scan then that's an easy way to buy longer days on their passes and sell them on ebay which has been spread throughout this thread. Then it becomes less of a security issue and more of making a quick dollar which is my biggest complaint.
I have read the AllEarsNet article, I do know why Disney is collecting the finger scan, and I have never accused Disney of doing anything nefarious or improper with the data once it's collected. My concern is, and always has been, that the government will "request" this information to help track terrorists, and that once it's in government hands it is at much more risk of being compromised than it is in Disney's hands. The whole thing seems a little ridiculous when Disney doesn't need to use finger scans as an identifier anyway - there are easier and less invasive ways of accomplishing the same thing.
