Virginia Code 59.1-443.3: Scanning information from driver’s license or other document; retention, sale, or dissemination of information
A. No merchant may scan the machine-readable zone of a driver’s license or other document issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles under Chapter 3 of Title 46.2 or the comparable law of another jurisdiction, except for the following purposes:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 59.1-443.3
- Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. Source: OCC
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
1. To verify authenticity of the driver’s license or other document or to verify the identity of the individual if the individual requests a service pursuant to a membership or a service agreement, pays for goods or services with a method other than cash, returns an item, or requests a refund or an exchange;
2. To verify the individual’s age when providing age-restricted goods or services to the individual if there is a reasonable doubt of the individual having reached 18 years of age or older;
3. To prevent fraud or other criminal activity if the individual returns an item or requests a refund or an exchange and the merchant uses a fraud prevention service company or system. Information collected by scanning an individual’s driver’s license or other document pursuant to this subdivision shall be limited to the individual’s name, address, and date of birth and the number of the driver’s license or other document;
4. To comply with a requirement imposed on the merchant by the laws of the Commonwealth or federal law;
5. To provide to a check services company regulated by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.), that receives information obtained from an individual’s driver’s license or other document to administer or enforce a transaction or to prevent fraud or other criminal activity; or
6. To complete a transaction permitted under the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, (15 U.S.C. § 6801 et seq.), or the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.).
B. No merchant shall retain any information obtained from a scan of the machine-readable zone of an individual’s driver’s license or other document except as permitted in subdivision A 1, 3, 4, 5, or 6. The merchant shall destroy the retained information when the purpose for which it was provided and retained under this section has been satisfied.
C. No merchant shall sell or disseminate to a third party any information obtained from a scan of the machine-readable zone of an individual’s driver’s license or other document for any marketing, advertising, or promotional purpose. This subsection shall not prohibit a merchant from disseminating to a third party any such information for a purpose described in subdivision A 3, 4, 5, or 6.
D. Any waiver of a provision of this section is contrary to public policy and is void and unenforceable.