Retailers can't request cardholders' ZIP code

[Dave]

California high court: Retailers can't request cardholders' ZIP code

February 10, 2011|By Greg Botelho, CNN


California's high court ruled Thursday that retailers don't have the right to ask customers for their ZIP code while completing credit card transactions, saying that doing so violates a cardholders' right to protect his or her personal information.

Many retailers in California and nationwide now ask people to give their ZIP code, punching in that information and recording it. Yet California Supreme Court's seven justices unanimously determined that this practice goes too far.

The ruling, penned by Justice Carlos Moreno, overrules earlier decisions by trial and appeals courts in California. It points to a 1971 state law that prohibits businesses from asking credit cardholders for "personal identification information" that could be used to track them down.

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articles.cnn.com/2011-02-10/us/california.credit.zip.code_1_zip-code-credit-card-personal-identification-information?_s=PM:US

[keith]

I don't find this one an easy call. I want people taking credit card charges to do their best to assure that the person using my card is really me. Even though I've recovered the money when fraudulent charges have been made, it is a hassle. I've never objected to being asked for additional information including zip code.

I tried a little experiment this morning. I made internet searches on both of us, first & last name only, then name plus town. With the name only each of us got lost among people with similar names. Adding just the town even without the state immediately narrowed it down and provided a lot more info: your wife's name & age, my children's names, your web site, my daughter's engagement announcement...

[Dave]

I'm not sure the requested information is always used for identification. Look at it this way. I agree with a credit card company to provide information about myself to them and contract to pay any charges I incur with their card. In return they give me the plastic and the number. The merchant will be paid in any case, no matter who uses the card, so why do I need to give the merchant any more information? That card is supposed to be as good as money ... that's how it's advertised. Do I need to write my zip code on a $20 dollar bill?

To me, this is all about privacy and the constant barrage of methods big brother and the business establishment attempt to get information about me. Most appear harmless, like the US Census ... because of which I am evidently an unconvicted felon for refusing to participate ... but as you know data can be compared, sifted and combined to produce a fairly complete picture of a private individual's life.

These days when I'm asked for information about myself, I ask the following:
1. why do you need it, and
2. what are the consequences if I refuse to tell you?

[Dave]

Re Internet searches. Yes, that could be a problem. Frankly, I don't mind that so much because I've always been a public person to some extent. Hell, I'm a writer, I want people to know about me.

I would say that what bothers me about being asked for my zip code is not so much the giving of information, but rather the annoyance and the frankly the disrespect of it. I'm not a freakin' number, I'm a person. And that snooty gas pump is just going to have to accept it.