ACLU of Michigan supports House Bill 4658: state-issued ID for everyday purchases

Summary

Written testimony from Merissa Kovach, Policy Strategist at the ACLU of Michigan, to the Michigan House Commerce and Tourism committee, stating a position of support for House Bill 4658. The testimony argues that private businesses increasingly require customers to show state-issued ID for everyday purchases and build databases of personal information, and that Michigan ID cards carry details including name, address, date of birth and driver's license number. It states that HB 4658 would ban private businesses from scanning state-issued ID cards and collecting, storing, using or sharing the barcode data, except in limited circumstances such as age verification and to prevent fraud. It asks the committee to support the bill.

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Michigan

House Commerce and Tourism
House Bill 4658

Position: Support

March §, 2020

Private businesses are increasingly requiring customers to show state-issued ID for everyday purchases -
building large databases of personal information with every transaction. Scanning an ID provides
companies an easy and cost-effective way to collect and use your personal information — for their own
purposes. The ACLU of Michigan supports House Bill 4658 because individuals shoutd be able to choose
who gets their personal information and how the information is used.

Michigan driver's licenses and state-issued identification cards are intended to certify a person's identity
or authorization to drive a motor vehicle, State-issued ID cards were not intended to facilitate data
collection about shopping habits or lifestyle choices. Companies should be prohibited from creating
databases about non-consenting individuals by collecting ID card data, which, in Michigan, includes
information about your name, address, date of birth, sex, height, eye color, organ donor status, and
driver's license number.

As more personal information is amassed in more databases, the likelihood increases that the information
will be misused or stolen. Individuals are not able to protect the accuracy or distribution of their
information when it is held by others. Companies that scan identification cards not only put people at risk,
but often do se without the individuals ever knowing they gave up their information. Individuals should be
able to choose who gets personal information and how the information is used.

HB 4658 would better protect individuals’ privacy by banning private businesses from scanning state-
issued ID cards and collecting, storing, using and/or sharing the personal information contained in the
barcode, except in limited circumstances such as age verification and to prevent fraud. This legislation
also takes important steps to restrict retention of personal data except for fraud protection and will prohibit
selling information to third parties for marketing, advertising, or promotional activities. For these reasons,
we ask this committee to support HB 4658.

Respectfully Submitted,

Merissa Kovach, Policy Strategist
ACLU of Michigan

mkovach@aclumich.orq
¢: 269-330-2813


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