Bank of ... America?

I just had to post my shock that Bank of America is now requiring people to leave their thumb print in order to cash a check. As I understand it, the only way to avoid this is to open an account with them. This freaks me out. Suddenly a state-issued drivers license is not enough? Or even my U.S. passport? SS card? Birth certifiacte? Really? We now need thumb prints to avoid check fraud? So Bank of America is having people either scan their thumb print, or ink it directly onto the check, so that the bank will have it, and if you ink it onto the check, the person whose check it is will have your print when the check is returned?! There's an interesting blog post about a court case against this policy here. We need to rename the bank. Bank of No Privacy? Bank of Communism? If your a Bank of America customer, consider what you are doing to the people you write checks to who may want to cash them there. Maybe just send cash. Maybe close your account(s) and give your money to someone else:)

Here's a blog post about students making false prints to fool computers for just $10. So for all those fighting for thumb print security, or think it's a safe way of doing things, read how easy it is to steal someone's print and use it.

~Matt