Thumbprint required to trade in games in Florida

by Richard Mitchell on May 30th 2009 8:00AM

Most of us are probably used to giving away a large amount of personal information to trade in video games. Many stores ask for all kinds of info. Phone numbers, zip codes, possibly even your home address will be locked away in some GameStop data vault. But what about your thumbprint?

According to Florida's Broward / Palm Beach News, local game retailers are now required to collect the thumbprint of anyone selling their used games. The practice has been enforced by the Broward County Sheriff's Office since October of last year, thanks to a new law enacted by the Florida legislature. The law essentially elevated used games to the same status as items sold to pawn shops, meaning that anyone that trades in a used game will have to provide a thumbprint "along with a bunch of other personal info."

Our hearts go out to all the game traders whose controllers are now blackened by the ink of oppression.

[Via GamePolitics]

Source

Tags: culture, florida, thumbprint, used-games

Reader Comments (84)

Good grief. Here in Aus it's just "Can we see your drivers license" just to make sure you are who you say you are, and you have a simple profile on the system (used for preordering anyway). I hope it stays that way.

That's still a rather irregular level of state intrusion in what should be a personal transaction. The fact that you find such actions agreeable is rather disconcerting.

I don't think so- fingerprints are going way overboard, yes, but one of the reasons they get your info is probably to combat theft. I know one of my nearby Gamestops is kinda shady like that- I've been there twice when someone was being detained for attempting to shoplift and I've had a conversation with the guy behind the counter in which he said that he thought some of the consoles and games that people were trading in were stolen. So some basic personal info and license checking would be really helpful in such a case.

@ Bowser: Could you point out where he said that those steps are state-mandated? I couldn't find it.

I'm a native Floridian who has lived here my whole life and this law is nothing new. In fact, it's been this was for years now. The reason being is because it falls under the FL pawn law jurisdiction when trading in game for cash at any retailer. They also have to fill out one of those Florida Sherrifs Dept pawn sheets with all of your personal information. You only have to do so if you are getting cash for your trade ins. If you are getting store credit it's not necessary. Again, this is nothing new here in the state of FL and literally has been around for 3-4 years now. To be honest it's not that big of a deal and they are simply doing it incase the items are stolen. Also, when you sell a game for cash the company is required to wait 30 days before they can sell the items so they can be checked through the local database to see if the items have been reported stolen.

Here were i live Starting next week we'll need a print of the bottom of our ball sack.

As a Florida resident who has traded-in at GameStop, I can attest to this being true. In fact, I had to do it months ago...

Wow, I've lived in Florida for 26 years and have never seen this.

If this is what they do in pawn shops, I don't have much of a problem with it. How is pawning off your old games any different than pawning off an old piece of jewelry? The "no questions asked" attitude that pawn shops and game shops take toward these sales does seem to encourage theft.

Utah used to require this too. Not just for games, but for any cds, dvds too. Now I believe that the law has become less strict (either through less enforcement or actual law changes), but you don't need thumbprints anymore.

The only reason for this is to track someone who traded in stolen goods, this isn't a big deal.

Sick Americans ... I am really sorry ... I'm happy to live in Europe!

Hopefully not England where Big Brother is watching you pee.

I think you'll find they're watching us piss.

The Germans get their jollies watching you do something quite different while in the loo. Something quite different indeed.

Chuck Norris doesnt give thumb prints, he gives fist print

He also gives bullet wounds.

Chuck would be upset if you didn't also mention devastating roundhouse kick foot imprints in faces.

Don't upset the Norris!

I'd say he gives footprints. To the face. From the side.

It'd be better if they just put everyone's fingerprint on file as soon as they turne 18 anyway.

Not that it would help anyway. 30 seconds with sandpaper and no one would know that fingerprint was mine anyway.

Also if you can make a print out of gelatine it's apparently imperceptible.

Mr. Mobius: WTF? Move away if that's what you think it should be like.

If you aren't planning to commit any crimes, does it really make a difference? It'd certainly help increase the success rate for police investigating crimes committed by first time criminals who wouldn't normally have their fingerprints on file.

But I'll bet you were one of the first people bitching about wiretaps though, if you aren't talking about illegal stuff why shouldn't the government listen in?

Fuck that the Government can keep the hell out of my business.

This was already being done about 4 years ago in Seminole and Orange. All entities classified as pawn shops in Florida have to do this and what GameStop does is acting like a pawn shop.

Not just Seminole and Orange, either. I lived In Orange (Orlando) for a good 2-3 years and before and after have lift in NW FL in Walton CO and this has been done for literally the last 4-5 years if not even longer. It falls under the FL Pawn law rules but is only required when recieving cash for goods.

Aeveryone is better off selling used games on ebay anyway.

...err, why?

to track people down that steal games and trade them in. Same setup as jewelry thiefs trying to pawn their take.

So your saying that games have reached same as jewelry when stolen and traded?

Our games are as valuable as diamonds people!!!

When you see a guy walk in with 6 different week old copies of video games, and he's getting $35 a pop, I don't think it's too unreasonable to have his information on file so when Wal-Mart stops by a week later asking about a guy who stole 6 games, they can find the guy who did it...

walmart has its own security setup, this wouldn't benefit anyone.

gamestops in millville nj have done this for almost two years now as required by local pd

It's becoming harder to do anything without first proving that you aren't a criminal. Every time I use cash (you know, legal tender, like from the olden days) to pay for something, the person behind the counter looks at me as if I had just sinned, and that I was surely some sort of scheming con man that is playing some angle by not paying with credit. If the bill is bigger than a 20, god help you, it's the second coming of the Spanish Inquisition.

*waits*

*waits*

NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!!

its a bit like that in the uk as well, if you use a £50 note in any shop, they will get their supervisor over to check it out

What on earth is wrong with the rest of the world. Using straight cash is more than normal here in Australia, with probably just as many people using cash as credit cards/bank cards. I've worked in retail quite a few times, and i've never thought twice about anyone using cash, nor have i ever been frowned upon for using it. It's a strange, strange world beyond our shores...

I think mostly they hate it because it requires a little more effort on their part.

In europe, most people don't even have credit cards. I had a small culture shock when I came to the us. People barely used cash at all- now wonder you people have so much debts. I admit that plastic is comfortable (espeically online) though.

Its not that they are condemning you for using cash, its more they are covering their butts because of the high amount of counterfeit cash there is out there today. I work in retail and we get caught with fake money all the time, but we catch it even more. So next time a clerk stops to inspect your $50 dollar bill dont be insulted, they are just doing what they are told, because if they get passed a fake, its probably coming out of their paycheck

That's because in Australia they already know that everyone is a criminal.

I'd expect this kinda thing from California, but not the old folks state Florida =\

I wonder if the state of Florida would pull off another method, similar to the Diebold screwjob of 2000.

This has me worries. For one thing, fingerprints can't be changed. If this thumbprint system is compromised and someone managed to get all this biometric information, it isn't a huge deal after that if someone has the tech to replicate something that will leave these prints.

If you thought normal identity theft was a bitch, just want till they start getting their hands on your biometric data. And there's no changing that one.

The Germans are sick too... but pssst.. i didnt tell u that

You don't have to show any ID or give thumb prints in Germany. You are required to have a certain age to sell and buy games.

And if you have violent tendencies.. NO GAME FOR YOU!

This is old news -- the reasoning behind it is because GameStop will pay cash for the games. If they didn't provide cash, they wouldn't need to do it. Basically, the first time you trade with a store, you fill out a form similar to that of a pawn shop, place your fingerprint on it, and they put it on file.

It's to cut down, at least a little, on people selling stolen property. If you sell a stolen console, and someone actually wrote down their serial number, GameStop tracks that -- they could tell police exactly who traded it in -- and provide a fingerpring.

NOA wants trading in games to be a REALLY long process, so that the idea of trading games diminishes.

Not sure how other states do it, but Minnesota requires a state ID to do such transactions.

When I used to work at Gamestop, we had to hand over numerous systems/store product that was traded in, to the police, along with the info of the person in question who apparently stole said items.

Honestly, whatever deters people to steal and then come in and fence the stuff off to Gamestop is a good thing. It's SUPER easy to tell when people are selling stolen games, especially after you work there for 3-4 years. You just can't do anything about it anymore, since Gamestop enforces employees to accept all trades, basically.

You know, I'm surprised no one has thought to bypass the entire commercial "trade" of used games and simply set up a blind swap system, where you list a set of games you have, a set of games you're looking for, and what you're willing to trade for what.

Then, both parties send the games to a centralized location where a third party handles the swap and sends the games out on their respective way.

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Thumbprint required to trade in games in Florida

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