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by petra303 44 days ago
> I can use SmartID to verify my ID (and age) in about 20 seconds when buying an energy drink at the local grocery store

Where do you have to show ID for that??

6 comments

Author is from Latvia (and so am I). You do actually get carded for energy drinks if you look under 30.

However, more relevant to the post, is that when you're ordering groceries online, you need to verify your age at checkout if you're buying stuff like alcohol (or energy drinks). It's trivial, and for a lot of people it uses the same authentication service that they already use to access their bank.

I was also taken aback by this, but apparently it's a real trend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_restrictions_on_energy_dri...

I think almost all of Europe. Have you ever tried teaching a room of 30ish teenagers all high on quadrupled RDI of caffeine? It makes distributing software on macOS seem like a walk in the park
Under 16s can’t buy energy drinks in the UK

Edit: currently a voluntary but widespread scheme by retailers, proposed to be law. TIL

can they also not buy tea, coffee or coca cola then? oh no, they might drink the caffeination amount of... 2 cans of pepsi!
The UK also has a big issue with "corner shops" (tiny stores operated usually by one person) that are fronts for organised crime and will sell you a lot more than energy drinks without checking your ID. Cash payment usually preferred.

Also things are going to get hot at the next general election if you're following what just happened in this week's council elections.

another feature of UK dystopia
You and I have very different ideas of dystopia.
Personally I enjoy the basic human rights of privacy and freedom of speech which are deeply lacking in the UK system.
That I can agree on. The right for children to by energy drinks is something different for me.
Other people enjoy their children not being shot.
Both systems can be bad for different reasons. I'm not making any comparisons.
Only if you look 12