February 6, 2005
Journal-News: Dave Connor said he was helping his customers by placing an automated ATM in his Blauvelt, N.Y., convenience store.
Now, he said, the county wants to punish him and other business owners with ATMs by requiring them to pay $55 to register their machines.
"It's just wrong," said Connor, who owns Quick Stop Deli.
The registry requires businesses with private ATMs, such as retail stores and gas stations, to pay a one-time fee of $55. The money would pay both the county's Office of Consumer Protection to administer the program and the county's computer crime unit for identity theft-prevention education.
With the registry, the county's Office of Consumer Protection would have information about the owner of a machine if a problem arose.
Legislator David Fried, D-Spring Valley, defended the law, which he sponsored, saying it could protect local businesses from corrupt ATM distributors. Fried said a criminal could buy 10 ATMs on the Internet, rig the machines and then lease them to unsuspecting store owners.