In issue 99:04:01 we told you that the state of Florida was considering selling driver's license photos. Well, it's official: the state has sold the photos for a penny each to a New Hampshire company.
Image Data LLC of Nashua, N.H., purchased 14 million pictures for a database that it wants to sell to merchants as a fraud prevention tool. As you know from previous Green Sheet articles, personal data listed on a driver's license, such as the address, is considered public information. Even so, only law enforcement previously had access to the pictures. That was until last year when a bill passed that allowed driver's license photos to be sold for fraud prevention purposes. The company that bought the photos, Image Data, stressed that the images will be used only for those purposes. Lorna Christie, spokeswoman for Image Data, said, "We're not a marketing company, and there will absolutely be no secondary uses of these photos."
South Carolina was the first state to approve the sale of license photos. Colorado, Louisiana, and New Hampshire previously rejected the company's request to sell the license photos.
Here's how it will work: A consumer writes a check for a purchase and shows a license as ID. The cashier swipes the license and the photo only is transmitted to the cashier and displayed for eight seconds. It is up to the cashier to determine if the picture that is displayed matches the person at the register.
But opponents say there is still room for misuse. Since so much personal information is already available online (social security numbers, addresses, etc.) some feel the photo is just the final piece of the puzzle to assume someone's identity.
Additionally, some retailers are skeptical of the benefits of the program. Lori Elliott, of the Florida Retail Federation, says many retailers already pay a third party for check verification and guarantee service. "So why would a retailer want to pay more for an image if the check is already guaranteed?" Elliott said.
While there are problems with the use of the images for check transactions, some think it may be helpful for credit cards. Image Data's spokeswoman said the system eventually would be expanded to handle credit cards. Ironically, the company was founded when Bob Houvener, now Image Data's president, had his own credit cards stolen and used for fraudulent charges.
"This company has been built from a victim's perspective," Christie said. "We worked to achieve a balance between protecting the consumer's identity and giving retailers an effective loss prevention product. And we used a technology that protects both consumers and businesses."
As much as consumers and retailers are protesting the practice, it may all be for naught. There are many in the industry who feel that by the time this issue is resolved, new, more accurate technology, such as iris identification or thumbprints stored on chips, will make the photo question obsolete.
