I was in town to set up a new banking account but wanted to check the deals on my existing ones first. I would have used my phone for this but I have recently got a new phone and would need to join a public WiFi to reinstall my previous apps (if it was possible to do this over my unlimited 5G connection, the way to do this wasn’t apparent). I attempted to join the library’s public WiFi but needed to supply my membership number which I had not brought with me. No problem I thought as I happened to have my passport and I could surely show this to the customer service desk to prove who I was. The person there was helpful, but said I would need to also show proof of address in order to release my membership number. They suggested I access one of my banking apps on my phone which would show my home address on a statement. But getting my banking apps working was the very reason I needed to join the WiFi in the first place! I asked why proving my address was relevant to getting my membership number when I had already proven who I was, and they admitted they didn’t know. We both mused at how things like this highlighted the futility of life. I returned home having not accomplished any of the things I set out to do.
A policy established because most libraries are by address region for membership, based on tax funding probably. If you moved out of town and have an address out of jurisdiction you can’t use their services. If their policy is picture ID with current address then as stupid as that situation is +1 for the clerk following privacy protocol.
+1 for following protocol? 🤡
A person’s day was wasted after they couldn’t access a public service, which sounds bad, but I guess on the bright side at least a Rule was enforced against them.
All this for wifi access for a few minutes. Must enforce The Rule to the letter, can’t lapse for a moment and make a decision as a human being.
If we killed all rules at the first exception, a woodpecker would destroy civilization.
You … do get that rules don’t spring into being without a reason, right? And that the people drafting them can be fallible? And that mere clerks who like to keep their jobs aren’t going to risk it even if the outcome DOES help a random stranger who may or may not also be potentially homeless and foot-insecure after breaking policy?
Yourself may be only a class-4 climb . You can do it without ropes. Get all the way over yourself.
I agree that the WiFi should be free, but giving out any info without full proof of ID is how social engineering of ID theft happens
You missed the entire point, the reality of the situation is that nobody “was social engineering of ID theft” - a person wanted to use wifi for a few minutes.
It takes nothing to act like a human being and share a wifi password. Instead here we are with you celebrating an automaton for blindly following rules and having no flexibility, because at least this guy wasn’t able to “steal his own identity”.
“Sure someone’s day was wasted, which could have been changed incredibly easily, but really what’s most important is blind adherence to The Rules.”
I was only explaining why they did it, it is for privacy and services. The fact that free WiFi is not everywhere is stupid. Seems you missed the point.
Most libraries do not do that. Yours might. Not most of them though. You just use the wifi password they provide.
Apparently theirs does too. ;)
Yup