Swiping Your Identity
Sep 12th, 2009 by sherri
Today a local liquor store decided to swipe my identification card into their computer systems for the first time. Here’s my response.
To the management of Local Liquor Store*,
I’ve been a customer of your store for about a year now. My husband and I stop by to stock up for parties. Your staff are always very friendly and helpful. I am writing because today I purchased a bottle of liquor at your counter. I was paying in cash. The clerk asked to see my identification so that she could verify my age. I handed it to her, and she immediately swiped it into your computer system without my consent.
While I understand that you need to check identification, I do not consent to having my personal information stored in your computer systems for any length of time. I value my privacy and I do not want my location or purchasing habits tracked. Moreover, my personal information is valuable and you have provided me with no assurances regarding the security of your systems.
By law, I am required to show proper identification to prove that I am over the legal age to purchase alcohol. This does not imply that I consent to having you record my identification details. If you insist that your customers submit to having our personal information recorded in order to make purchases, you should clearly inform us and ask permission before swiping.
When I told your store clerk that I did not want my information stored in your computer systems, she said that it was only stored for “about 800 swipes” and that she was required to swipe driver’s licenses of anyone born after 1980. This is discriminatory. Do people under the age of twenty-nine have less right to privacy than those above?
Montana’s constitution protects our rights to privacy in this state. We should be able to go to the store without having our identification and whereabouts tracked. Identity theft is also a big problem, and spreading our personal information around puts us at greater risk.
I like your store and have been a good customer for some time. However, I value my privacy above all. I hope you will consider changing your policy regarding tracking shoppers, because I enjoyed being one of your customers. Until then, I will be shopping elsewhere.
Thank you for your time.
* Store name has been changed. You probably guessed that.
| Sherri Davidoff |
| PGP-signed text: 2009-09-12 (current) |
GO Girl !!!
Nicely said. Whilst this may produce the desired result in this instance, I doubt whether the company policy will be affected. Your actions are the sort which are required by a good percentage of customers before management makes policy changes.
We have to start somewhere, and your actions are a very good start.
I suppose it would be extremely hard to stop someone from doing this before they’re done. Hand over card, they grab it, and SWIPE!, done before you can leap across the counter.
I might just try to find a sleeve to put on my ID card that I can take off for legit purposes, but would at least prevent quick swiping before I can say hold on. I’ll even go so far as to obscure the back of the sleeve if it happens to be clear on both sides.
I would have demanded to see a manager and get a copy of the stores data retention and security policies.
Store owners have the right to swipe any id they choose without any consent. I am pretty sure every state gives the authority to do so and most likely encourages swiping and give incentive to do so. Anti fraud programs that the clerk and manager have been required to go to were the ones to tell them to swipe anyone under the age of 30 or look under the age of 30. Don’t get all worked up when you get swiped again. Welcome to big brother next stop government controlled health care, where and when you can go for your health is up to them.
“A government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take everything away” -Thomas Jefferson
@ #4 joe football:
That’s absolutely not true. Store owners certainly can’t force you to hand over your ID. They can’t “swipe any ID they choose.” They can decide not to sell you something if they wish. If enough people decide to shop elsewhere because of that, then many business will change their policy.
We *can* and *should* choose to support business that respect our privacy and the value of our personal information.
On the completely separate topic that you brought up, I believe that our government can and should find a way to fund universal health care. Corporate-controlled health care is a travesty and people need alternatives. Corporations are not interested in public health; they are interested in profiting off people. There’s no reason in this modern age why people who are unemployed or sick or poor should be denied access to proper preventative care or medical treatment.
Sheri is correct. Sure, by law stores can request to verify your age when selling alcoholic beverages, but digitizing and storing personally identifiable information without consent is not a good practice. However, the other commentators are correct; the practice probably won’t change until customers start talking with their checkbooks.
@ sharri
I never said that store owners can force you to do anything, but they can swipe any id they choose that is given to them if they feel it is necessary. It’s probably a lot easier to swipe and see your age than looking at an id for a minute and find the date and do the math and make sure it is real. As soon as you hand them your id you just gave them your consent to swipe your id. As you get older I also bet you’ll never be swiped again, unless laws change. The only states that don’t allow for your id to be swiped are New Hampshire, Texas, and Nebraska. But as technology advances gathering the information off your id is going to get easier and easier. New id’s are coming out that have micro chips in them. Like in your passport, that can be scanned without you even noticing.
Yes it is you chocie now to shop anywhere you want, because you can go to other stores who may not have a machine that can swipe or they just could care less, but as time goes on it’s likely that all businesses will have the ability to swipe an id and will probably use it because its the hardest thing for counterfeiting to forge. I know in Ohio there is only a handful of places that can not swipe an id. This is because right now they don’t feel threaten by fake id’s and minors trying to buy. And if that minor was caught they would loose them there liquor license and get shut down for selling to a minor.
I guess the two big points I’m trying to get across and I think that they are related, are. The businesses who swipe are doing it only for the purpose of verifying your age and that you id is real. It is very illegal to sell or give your information to anyone. I’ll bet you that they don’t even look at it after you leave. My second point is that you feel your freedoms have been pressed and i think it’s the government is allowing this, they are allowing our information to be taken. My health care example was just an example. Yes their should be a way to get health care to people who cannot afford it, or are unemployed(which by the way there is health care options in most states, for example Badger care in Wisconsin, that give health care to people who have lost their jobs or have been unemployed for a long period of time) but I should be able to stay with my non-government health care provider. Like you said, an alternative, not a mandated system.
Just something else to chew on, what government run program still running today is doing a good job? or even did a good job?
My second point is that you feel your freedoms have been pressed and i think it’s the government *plan to* allow this, they are allowing our information to be taken.
Hi Sherri,
I saw this article in the Boston Globe this morning and remembered your post:
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/11/01/scanning_id_at_purchase_legitimate_only_in_a_few_cases/
Where it said:
Barbara Anthony, undersecretary of the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, said she can’t think of an above-board reason for a business to do that.
I haven’t had my id scanned before, but maybe it’s starting to happen more often as stores update their point of sale systems to try to capture more customer data for marketing related reasons?
Nick
Use a passport for ID. No address and I doubt the cashier would be able to “swipe” it. The only time you should hand over your driver’s license is to a police officer if you are pulled over, etc.
looks like nebraska is caving in
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=6911