In our cashless society, we need to take digital jail seriously

Re:In our cashless society, we need to take digital jail ser... by henryfjordan on Tuesday February 22, 2022 @07:22PM (#30435855)

If there was a gate at the entrance to the road and they verified you had an EZ Pass before letting you drive onto their road, sure. It's the same as a coffee shop not giving you any coffee until you've paid using a credit card.

If they put up a sign that said "don't use these roads if you don't like the payment terms" and then you drove on the road anyway, that would technically form a contract between EZ Pass and the driver. However, contracts are made to be broken and any damages would be payable in cash so we're back to the start.

The legal tender thing has nothing to do with the agency being part of the state. Private debtors must also accept cash.

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Re:In our cashless society, we need to take digital jail ser... by ska on Tuesday February 22, 2022 @08:10PM (#30436252)

> Private debtors must also accept cash.

Right, debtors do but merchants don't. And merchants can put terms on it, which was the point I wanted to make.

If the sign says, "you can use this toll road if you either use EZ pass or accept our pay-by-mail system", then there seems to be no reason you have to include "cash" as one of the options.

Of course if you fail to pay, then you do owe them a debt (fee + penalties + whatever) and I think you are right they have to somehow accept cash, but that doesn't have to be made easy for you. Agree its not a state vs. private issue, I should have been clearer.

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