The Legalities Of Capturing Driver's License Data

Written by: Mike Monocello

In a recent commentary article (click here for the original article), Dave Sullivan, senior VP, sales and marketing at Datalogic Scanning provided information on the opportunity for VARs to increase revenue by selling bar code scanning solutions that capture driver's license information.

Shortly after the article was published, I received a question from a reader concerning the legality of such solutions. Sullivan provided the answer.

Question: There was no discussion of the legality of scanning this data in the article. My understanding is that some state have stated this data is for government use only, therefore making it illegal to scan this data. Any thoughts?

Sullivan: That is true. It is a state by state decision whether to encode data on drivers' licenses or not. Most states currently use the magnetic strip or 2D barcode technology to encode data on state-issued drivers' licenses. Of the states that do encode this data, most have provisions which allow for businesses to scan this data to verify age and identity. Some states are starting to regulate this practice. For example in New Hampshire and Texas businesses are not allowed to save data scanned from drivers' licenses for any purpose. In addition, it is illegal in all states for businesses to sell data collected from drivers' licenses.