TMI: California Zip Codes a No-No at the Check-out

February 16th, 2011. By AbiK

Can I have your zip code?

Can I have your phone number?

Can I see your card for the secure code?

It’s the barrage of questions you get at whatever check-out you happen to be at when you’re paying by credit card—or even debit card. You’re never quite sure if it’s really as a “protection” for you, the consumer, against possible credit card fraud, or whether it’s just some ploy to grab more data about you, the potential repeat purchaser whose personal info will help “Marketing” map out its next advertising plan (“Let’s do a mailer!”) and sales forecast.

While we all appreciate some safeguards against credit card theft, some retailers use such info either for their own marketing purposes, or to sell the info to third party marketers or businesses who then use it themselves. What do you get out of it? A catalog in the mail. A discount coupon from a company you’ve never done business with. That sort of thing. The end of the world? No. But it does beg the question of why someone is soliciting you without your approval to do so. And why should they be tracking where you shop and where you live? Isn’t that a privacy issue?

It’s certainly a Song-Beverly Act issue.

You could just wear the above t-shirt from zazzle.com every time you shop—but if you live in California, it’s your lucky day as cnn.com reports that the California State Supreme Court has unanimously voted that retailers do not have the right to ask for cardholders’ zip codes—it violates their right to protect their personal information; and asking for a zip code can now lead to a fine.

So from now on—and it only applies to retailers in CA—Californians shouldn’t be asked for their zip code numbers when buying something with a credit card. What’s interesting though, is it isn’t really just the practice of the retailer seeing (or hearing) your personal information. At issue is the fact that they record that information—that is, they punch it into the register keypad.

So, for security purposes, a cashier could just as easily ask to see a driver’s license or other form of identification, and of course, he or she would see exactly where you live (and perhaps your height and eye color, too). But, should that cashier go to punch in any of that information…uh-uh-uh…then they’re stepping over the line. Recording the information clearly shows intent to not only verify you as the cardholder, but to also then use that info for some other future purpose.

Making a purchase online or want that in-store purchase delivered? That’s still not a problem and not impacted by this latest ruling. If you really don’t want a retailer to have a record of where you live, take whatever you bought home yourself, and heck, pay cash. And certainly don’t shop online where everything from your IP address to your credit card info and email (“we’ll send you an email confirmation”) are recorded, and used.

This ruling by the CA Supreme Court overrules an earlier Court of Appeals decision, and, as the cnn.com article states, stems back to a 1971 state law “that prohibits businesses from asking credit cardholders for “personal identification information” that could be used to track them down.”

Tags: California Supreme Court, Consumer Privacy, Credit Card, Credit Card Fraud, Song-Beverly-Act-Class-Actions, Zip Code

This was posted on Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 at 8:36 am and is filed under Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.