Central Interference: Gamers Fingerprinted for Used Games Trading

Apparently, in Florida, stores are now required to get the prints of all those who are interested in picking up a used videogame. Such a measure sends the idea that gamers are criminals and buying and selling DVDs is basically the same as getting a gun. The measure seems to be coming from the legislature of the state and the story was broken by a local newspaper, the Broward/Palm Beach New Times.

One of the reporters witnessed a customer giving his print while standing in line behind him and decided to investigate. The clerk at GameStop stated that “The sheriff's office has been making us do it” before adding the obvious by saying “People hate it.”

Further investigation from the newspaper led to a talk with the manager of the GameStop in question, who is named Carlos River. Apparently, all videogame stores in Broward County got a visit from a sheriff's deputy in October 2008 and the message was to get the thumb prints of all those people who were returning videogames. Rivera said that he followed the order because “They have guns. I don't argue with people with guns.”

When the County Sheriff's Office in Broward was contacted, spokesperson Kayla Concepcion said that the orders of the office were based on a ruling from the Florida legislature, which, on October 1, 2008, passed a law that equates videogame with second hand goods that are given to a pawn shop. So, a store that is buying or selling used videogames needs to take the personal info and the thumb print of any customer.

Broward County, Florida now seems like a sort of Twilight Zone to gamers. If a country needs anything, it's a restriction related to the sale of dangerous stuff, like weapons or herbicide, which can be turned into explosives, not a limitation related to videogames. But who knows, maybe in a few years, all gaming devices will need to be registered with the state.