Major video game retailer GameStop is now requiring its Philadelphia customers to provide a fingerprint scan when they try and sell used games.
GameStop stores in the city received a mandate from corporate headquarters after Philadelphia police requested they implement harsher security measures, gaming blog Kotaku reported.
GameStop says it is following a local law that allows them to collect fingerprints, which then go into a database used by law enforcement to help track down people selling stolen goods, a local CBS affiliate reported.
Customers outside one GameStop in Center City weren’t too pleased with the new policy.
“I really don’t appreciate it. You fingerprinted me like I’m in a police district. No, I’m at a game store,” a customer told the station.
“I think it’s an overreach. It’s going too far,” said another.
A GameStop representative told Kotaku that fingerprint scanning “is a practice we’ve also put into place in other parts of the U.S., depending on local or statewide second-hand dealer or pawn broker laws.”
Philadelphia city officials say GameStop, however, is not required to follow the city’s pawn broker ordinances.
“What GameStop does doesn’t meet any of the elements of the definition in the code, so the pawnbreaker ordinance doesn’t apply to GameStop,” City Solicitor Shelley Smith told the CBS affiliate.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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