Way Off Topic

A reader wrote to ask me what my experience has been, or the experience of others, with regard to cellular providers asking for more personal information ever since the NSA story broke.

Specifically, while at Best Buy, the reader tells me he was eligible for a fairly substantial mail-in rebate for a Samsung smart phone. To get the mail-in rebate, he had to provide some identifying data like his/her name, and an address where to send the check.

Okay.

But then, the form also asked for height and weight. Huh?

The Best Buy clerk said that a fingerprint would also be needed.

The reader said he was being asked this information so that Best Buy could truly verify that he was who he said he was when requesting the rebate.

I trust my readers. But this sounds beyond the pale. (For newbies, I will provide the etymology for "beyond the pale" if anyone asks.)

Can anyone verify that Best Buy is, in fact, asking for height, weight, finger print, etc, when completing a mail-in rebate for a smart phone?

If accurate, the NSA/Best Buy requires more identification when buying a phone than when voting.