![[tmbchr]™](/journal/popocculture-blog-logo.jpg){kind=logo}
Anonymous Laptops In Cash
I found out recently that major electronic stores HATE it when you try to buy a laptop in cash, first of all. Second, they hate it when you try to do so anonymously. And third, they hate it even more when you try to return the laptop you bought in cash (they wouldn’t let me do it anonymously) because it’s broken and it’s their fault.
I bought my first replacement laptop at Circuit City for my one that committed suicide. They tried to sell me some bullshit “pre-installed” something or other for an extra forty bucks, but all it really was was that they had *removed* some software, not added anything extra. They claimed it was *not* a floor/display model, but I really had no way of proving it. So the whole thing was sketchy to begin with. Then they asked for my name and phone number. I asked why they needed it, but it was just some dumb kid and no one told him anything beyond that they needed it for “returns.” He himself didn’t seem worth hassling any further, so I let it go. I gave my real name and phone number, but the stupid part is he didn’t check my ID or anything… so I could have given him any damned thing and said it was me.
However, I’m almost positive they could biometrically identify me through store video footage linked with purchase date/time and register location. They must store that info, right?
Anyway, when I returned Mr. Sketchy Broken Laptop to Circuit City, some dude behind a magical counter gave me a total bullshit hard time about it and kept saying that he couldn’t find anything wrong with it. I finally broke him down by forming a temporary coalition with some other CC customers who were having a similarly sketchy problem: they’d bought an open box item which didn’t work like it was supposed to, and now were being screwed out of money (he wanted to charge me a 15% restocking fee - that is, they wanted me to pay for a product I bought that didn’t work!). When I heard those people’s problem, I instantly said, “Oh really, that’s the same problem I’m having!” in a very gee-willikers kind of style.
The guy quickly rebutted, “Actually, that’s not the same problem at all.”
But the point seemed to stick, as shortly after that, he began changing his tune and finally told an underling to mark the box as defective with the label “BAD NETWORK.” I may not know much about computers (actually, I know quite a lot), but I know that “BAD NETWORK” is not a real diagnosis.
Anyway, I got my cash back from them and promptly went to Best Buy to purchase a twice as powerful computer (RAM-wise) at the exact same price. Once again, they required that I give my name and phone number, address and in this case sign some kind of document. Once again, it was just some dumb kid working there and I wanted to “fight the system” or whatever, but didn’t see it as being worthwhile to give some poor kid a hard time. So I asked him why I had to fill out the form. He said something about “needing a paper trail,” and when I asked why, he said corporate policy. When I asked why it was corporate policy, he merely reiterated that they need a paper trail. I let it drop, and side-stepped the subject by asking if I was going to get advertising as a result of filling my name out, and he said, “No, it’s not entered into anything.”
Which seems retarded if it is true, and more likely that it is simply false. Why take that information if it’s not used? Why do you think electronic stores need a “paper trail” for something like a laptop purhcase? Obviously, it’s so that they can link a human being to a laptop identification/serial number so that they can track fraudulent or other criminal activity.
But the stores won’t just say that. Why? Because to be as honest as that makes it look like you’re accusing your potential customers of being thieves and liars. And nobody is going to want to throw down hundreds of dollars in an accusatory retail environment.
In any event, I just think it’s wild that we now suddenly live in a situation where buying an ordinary product in cash has become a suspicious transaction filled with hoops and corporate mumbo-jumbo policies. Makes me feel like something is very much out of whack…
- Laptop Advice?
- Crypto-anarchism
- Cash In A Cashless Society
- Blogging alternatives (or: “I do it right, you do it weird”)
- Cash cannon
- Prev: Bounced Paychecks
- Next: Don’t Forget The Human Internet
March 19th, 2008 at 3:27 am
How isn’t “Bad network” a valid diagnosis? Bad network=Bad network card, no? A bad network card or other part of the computer can sink the whole computer when the OS loads the drivers.
Comment on this:
1) I doubt they store the data for very long. It’s costy and cumbersome to store a lot of video footage. I don’t know what the PATRIOT act presribes though. I’d guess they store data for a maximum of one or two weeks.
2) It’s also unlikely they will spend the time and money that’s needed to biometrically identify for anything less than you robbing the store.
March 19th, 2008 at 5:53 am
I bought a desktop from Walmart a year back, went home and it broke within a day. When I took it back a woman from electronics came to make sure everything was there, all she did was open the box it came in and look in. I could have just gutted it of all the components and got all the money back. I wouldn’t do it, cause I’m like honest and stuff, but oh well.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Well at first he told me there was nothing wrong with it and that he could get on their network (pre-installed, of course) just fine. The real point though is that the guy is a dick…
Good points about them not storing video data for very long. Finding out exactly how long would almost certainly raise alarm bells though.
I guess another thing I was really reacting to in this situation is not just the circumstances now, but say in five years, when you really literally can’t buy a laptop or similar anonymously whatsoever. That day is coming.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Forgive me if I’m naive, but is it possible to buy laptops from those private strip-mall joints where you normally “build” PCs? ie, buy all the separate components and have Joe Blow put it together for you, if you cannot do it yourself?
This is how I imagine things would (do?) work in poorer countries, especially. It is very eye-opening learning about cell phone vendors & repairmen in the 2nd and 3rd world… on average, they milk the hell out of each phone, all of its parts, etc. Here, when one thing is broken (whether a cell phone, computer, or pair of shoes) we often just throw it out and get a new one. If things were to tighten up down the road, I imagine this skillset would be much more prevalent here in USA.
This might be wishful pick-and-choose fantasy thinking as well, but I wonder if upcoming open source mobile operating systems might help open the door for this in cell phone stuff in the future. Granted I have no idea how the big “networks” of cell phone connection work and are necessary, but dear lord I would love for it to get decentralized. Going into those stores, you cannot help but feel they have you by the balls.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Such as which one?
Here’s a computer refurbishing non-profit around Baltimore I’m gonna give my old laptop to as salvage:
http://lazarus.org/
March 20th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Well, I was referring to Android, the open source OS being developed by Google & the Open Handset Alliance… first devices should be on the market later this year. I believe 34 different companies/providers are on board to run Android on their devices, which seems to be a great start in avoiding a single-company stranglehold (which would crumble anyway, in time).
Granted, I just read that Android “is not a full-fledged operating system, as it currently does not support the execution of native code,” which seems limiting… but I’d have to think as open doors and windows start to replace walls that were previously sealed, people can see the yard and the fence and start to yearn to travel over them there hills.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I also just learned of Openmoko, a “true” open source mobile phone/OS (linked from the “Criticism” section of the Android page). Very cool to see this, though I cannot help but think Google & Android’s size/inertia/influence will still make larger strides toward this end, ultimately.
A long while back I heard the story on NPR Widening the Internet Highway to Rural America, which describes this 24 year old’s trekking through the wilderness to brave dangers, climb heights, and setup antenna/receivers/signal-things in order to relay existing signals to those in the dark. In a way, very much the modern-day Prometheus.
This is another example of a hands-on skill that would probably (hopefully!) be widespread (or at least present) if the infrastructure ever took some massive hits.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:43 am
DO NOT TRUST GOOGLE
In essence, this means that GOOGLE will control those 34 companies because it will control the technology they are backed on. It’s like Google searches which power other websites: those companies become entirely reliant on Google to provide one of their most basic services.
[Sci-Fi Futuristic Stoner Conjecture] The only reason Google bought Android is so that they could control the domain name Android.com and develop a “mobile operating system” eventually to be plugged into humans.
In other words, the new Google Human™ will only be able to run Google code-packs and see the dataworld through Google-colored glasses.