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  You forgot to add aliens somewhere in your post, and how they are controlling the shadow government, and that this is all a big conspiracy to get more snow from Canada.
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....and that Tri-Lateral Commision too!

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  You forgot to add aliens somewhere in your post, and how they are controlling the shadow government, and that this is all a big conspiracy to get more snow from Canada.
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Not aliens, PENGUINS!  PENGUINS DAMMIT!  They're after us, you have to see that!

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There are a lot of things you can't do in the "land of the free" without some sort of ID. One is getting a membership at a video rental store. Most places steadfastly refuse to issue a membership to anyone who does not have, or does not wish to show, a picture ID. Some people consider this to be an invasion of privacy. The Video Privacy Protection Act passed by Congress and signed into law in 1988 does diddly. For one thing, it permits the release of a customer's rental record to a cop with a court order. For another thing, it permits the video store to sell your rental information to direct marketers. Add to that more recent developments of the Patriot Act and Total Information Awareness. So what can you do? First, try to obtain a membership without ID. (I was able to do this at one video store by telling them I didn't have ID. I was able to obtain a membership after they reluctantly agreed to let me have one. Of course I used an alias.) That most likely will not work; it has only worked for me one time. If that fails, enlist the help of a family member who is not as concerned about privacy issues and rent using their membership. (When you sign the receipt, make your signature an illegible scribble.) If that doesn't work, consider obtaining alternate ID, such as those mail-order blank ID cards. If the store will not accept anything other that an official state-issued ID card, they must not want your business. Take your business to someone who wants it.      
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Ummmm, did a video store send you to collections or something?  :o  Or are you embarrassed to have your real name connected to all those fetish porn movies you rent?  ;)

B.F.D.  ::)

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Not because we wanted to intrude into their private life, we hade better things to do, but because we got tired of people joining under false names/addresses and never returning the videos.

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I worked at a video store, too and this was a big problem.  We also lost our only Laser player the first week we had it to rent out.  Video stores lose quite a bit of money this way.

TV9 is right, it is the Penguins!  Evil, I say, Evil.

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it permits the video store to sell your rental information to direct marketers.End Quote

Naw. naw...

Let's give Scary Moose a little bit of credit. Afterall, he does have a very small point.

The solution, Scary, is for you to demand that your private information be kept private and not given, rented or sold to any other solicitors, companies or third parties. They're usually very good about this if you make a point of it.  :)

As far as presenting a false i.d., well, that's called fraud and it is punishable by law, especially when contracts are involved.

Problem solved.  ;D 8)


Unless you're a paranoid person and your whole life feels like it's all a giant conspiracy.

Edited to delete all the other rubbish from the original message which was irrelevant to my reply.

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We also lost our only Laser player the first week we had it to rent out.  Video stores lose quite a bit of money this way.
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you're right.  When I worked there, we had just started renting out Ninetendo systems and VCR's.  Needless to say, they weren't our's for long.  Or they would come back broken.

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you're right.  When I worked there, we had just started renting out Ninetendo systems and VCR's.  Needless to say, they weren't our's for long.  Or they would come back broken.


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The only VCR's we kept were the ones that didn't have the record feature.  We had to require credit cards to rent the Nintendo and it still disappeared.  

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If I made a sizeable investment and rented out my investment to you, I would require some way of identifiying you. But that is just the way I see it.
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Right.

The way i see it, if you, a total stranger, showed up at my door and asked to borrow a piece of my property, forget it!

unless I know you, you aint getting my stuff! :)

Same goes with video stores.  They are not going to just let you walk out with thier mvoies(which they bought, and beleive me, new releases are not cheap to buy out-right), without some assurance that you can be identified later on.  

For the record:  When I worked at the video store, New Realeases cost an everage of $90/tape for my store to buy from the distributor.  So every time someone stole one, its a $90 loss for the store, on average.

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And go through the whole ordeal again every time you want to rent a movie. That's not cost effective.
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I think you misunderstood. I meant the video store should destroy the record of WHAT MOVIES A PATRON HAS RENTED once he returns them. I'm not talking about wiping out all his membership information.

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I think you misunderstood. I meant the video store should destroy the record of WHAT MOVIES A PATRON HAS RENTED once he returns them. I'm not talking about wiping out all his membership information.
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Hmm. That makes sense then. I wonder if that could be requested... I'm sure you could talk to the video store and make a request like that - esp. the small, mom 'n pop places.

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You better watch out, Scary Moose, the FBI is gonna be after you because you rented "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" ::) :P
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come to think of it, anyone who rents that movie deserves to go to prison :D

(my fiancee rented it and omg it was horrendous! ;D)

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It seems Scary Moose is really worried about his video rentals coming back to haunt him. Adult videos are not that big a deal, Scary. There's nothing wrong with renting them.

When video stores offer adult videos, it's just another category to add to their other categories. It's just business, nothing more.
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;D LOL!  If he's THAT worried about it, then either buy them at an adult vid store (if you use cash nobody will trace it back to you!) or buy them off the Internet!  But then again, if you purchase them on the 'Net you have to use a credit card & that will have your name on it.  So it looks like you only have one option.  ::)

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;D LOL!  If he's THAT worried about it, then either buy them at an adult vid store (if you use cash nobody will trace it back to you!) or buy them off the Internet!  But then again, if you purchase them on the 'Net you have to use a credit card & that will have your name on it.  So it looks like you only have one option.  ::)
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Not if you buy them off Ebay ;)  Money orders are usually accepted.

Oh, and BTW, libraries keep a record of what you check out, too.  Credit card companies keep a record of what you purchase, TiVo keeps a record of what you record.  Let's just face it, we're all being watched 8)

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Oh, and BTW, libraries keep a record of what you check out, too.  Credit card companies keep a record of what you purchase, TiVo keeps a record of what you record.  Let's just face it, we're all being watched 8)
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Not only that....

The Social Security Administration and the IRS know Every Step You Take.

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Not only that....

The Social Security Administration and the IRS know Every Step You Take.
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And if you work for the Federal Government?  Fugheddiboudit!  They probably have cameras installed in your home while you are at work & watch every move you make!  ;)