Big Brother And Everybody Else.

• Author: Carbajal, Michael, Jr.
• Position: ON THE LEVEL

VIEWS OF A STOREFRONT BROKER

I often wonder how we ever got along without computers. I marvel at the speed at which these mechanical servants store and retrieve information. We have reached the point where someone with a personal computer has access to anyone's personal data. Big Brother can certainly expand its watching capacity.

I am not too sure if I am comfortable with this. I like to keep certain parts of my past private and I am very concerned with computer errors. Getting data into a computer file takes seconds, but correcting a mistake is another matter.

Car rental companies in several states maintain data banks of individuals who have been delinquent in paying their bills and arc refusing to do business with them. They also check the driving records of all potential customers and unless they meet a prescribed criteria, the only thing they can rent is a bicycle, a stationary one, at that.

These rejected customers get on a list of "persona non grata" and they could stay on that list indefinitely. This list is the first thing that is checked when a car is about to be rented. Should the customer be rejected at this time, there will be no need to go through the expense of obtaining an MVR. Clerks at rental counters are not given reasons for rejections. Potential customers are simply told they do not qualify as renters.

Several companies do not maintain such a list because of the potentially unfair situations that could develop. Thrifty Rent-a-Car has been particularly vocal in condemning the "blacklist" and several others have taken the value of the list under advisement. Some of those who are in favor of the list concede that if it is periodically updated, objections to its faults would be addressed. The problem with this is the expense or updating. The company has to make the decision if it is economically viable to invest in updating, update only when requested or discard the list entirely.

Additionally, these lists could very well be sold to others and the possibility for abuse is enormous. An erroneous entry could make its way around the country (the world?) and could have far reaching implications.

1 am not going to rent a car unless it is from Thrifty or one of the other companies that does not have a data bank. I don't feel like playing Russian Roulette with data entries.

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