Scanning ID at purchase legitimate only in a few cases
Q. When I went to pay cash for a six-pack of beer at a liquor store in Grafton, the clerk asked to see my driver’s license. I am over 60 years old and look every day of it. I thought the request odd, but showed him my license. He took it, read it slowly, then flipped it over and, using a scan gun, scanned the barcode on the license. Data clearly registered on the clerk’s computer screen, and he examined those data carefully.
What he had done didn’t register until after I had left the store. While “verifying’’ my age, the store seems to have harvested private information in a way that allowed the data to be kept. I could not see the computer screen clearly after the clerk scanned my license. Does scanning the barcode call up all the data printed on my license? What legitimate or state-mandated reason would the store have for gathering (and potentially storing) such information?
ANONYMOUS
A. There are instances in which such scanning might make sense - when someone returns an item without a receipt, when paying by check, or when renting a car. But paying cash in a situation in which someone’s age isn’t being verified doesn’t make sense at all.
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.
“It’s either a marketing purpose or a reason that’s not so clear and honest,’’ she said. “I’ve never heard of this before.’’
Ann Dufresne, spokeswoman for the state Registry of Motor Vehicles, said the bar code scan will provide all the information that is printed on the front of the card: Name, date of birth, height, and address. The purpose of the bar code data, she said, is to prevent tampering - allowing anyone scanning to verify the data matches what is printed.
Anthony said she isn’t sure the store broke any laws, but also doesn’t think it should have happened. “What are they doing with that information? It raises a whole host of questions,’’ she said.
Next time - if there is a next time - put the beer down and go to a different liquor store.
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