Nebraska's new Law on ID Scanners

In April of 2010, Nebraska changed the law on the use of ID Scanners. Originally the law prevented the user or scanner from saving any data. Now the law allows for ID Scanner to save the ID number and/or the calculated age of ID presented. The scanner may not retain name or address information. So now the law gives the merchant some ability to substantiate or prove an ID was checked while still addressing privacy concerns of card holders.

Here is summary

....§60-4,111.01 requires that a sign be posted when ID scanning is done on the premises. The only information that may be kept is the Identification Number and age indicated on the Identification. YOU MAY NOT store names, dates of birth, addresses or physical descriptions.
Before purchasing any kind of age verification devise ensure that it can be modified to only collect the information allowed by law.
WARNING
• DO NOT KEEP OR STORE ANY INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM ANY IDENTIFICATION OTHER THAN THE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER OR THE AGE INDICATED ON THE IDENTIFICATION WITH A ELECTRONIC IDENTIFICATION CHECKING DEVICE - TO DO SO IS A CLASS IV FELONY IN NEBRASKA §60-4,111.01.

Click here summary provided by Nebraska Liquor Control Commission
http://www.idscanner.com/NE_60-4111.01.pdf
or the original http://www.lcc.ne.gov/pdfs/electronic%20age.pdf

Here is the original law
http://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=60-4,111.01

Utah Law ID Scanner Requirements

The Utah Department of Alcohol Beverage Control does not provide a list of approved ID Scanners or electronic age verification devices. Below is a summary of the requirements. The most unique aspect of Utah's new law is the requirement that data be deleted in seven (7) days or 168 hours. This section of the law appears to be a compromise between privacy concerns and the needs of merchants/law enforcement. The exact rule may be http://www.rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r081/r081-05.htm#T16 and is summarized below.

● An electronic age verification device:
a) must contain the technology to read a magnetic stripe and a two dimensional (“2d”) stack symbology (bar code), or an alternate technology capable of electronically verifying the proof of age; and
b) shall be capable of reading a valid state issued driver’s license, a valid state issued identification card, a valid military identification card, or a valid passport;
c) shall have a screen that displays no more than a person’s name, age, ID number, birth date, gender, ID status & expiration date; and
d) shall have the capability of electronically storing the name, age, ID number, birth date, gender, ID status & expiration date for seven days (168 hours) including the time and date the proof of age was scanned.
● If the proof of age cannot be scanned electronically, an alternative method of verifying an individual’s proof of age shall include a record or log showing the type, number, and expiration date of the ID; the date the ID was presented, the individual’s name and date of birth.
● Any data collected either electronically or otherwise, may only be used for the purpose of verifying an individual’s proof of age and may not be retained by the licensee in a data base for mailing, advertising, or promotional activity, to acquire personal information to make inappropriate personal contact with the individual, and shall be retained for a period of seven days from the date on which it was acquired, after which it must be deleted. The data collected may be acquired by law enforcement, or other investigative agencies.

Utah Law Requires ID Scanners for Age Verification

March 30, 2010

The Law allows private clubs to covert to a public club if they use an ID Scanner to check people who look younger than 35 years out.

Its an effort to make the state boost the state's $6 billion a year tourism industry and remove Utah's notoriously quirky liquor laws. Tourists in search of a beer and a bite to eat after hitting the ski slopes frequently walk out of bars once told they're for members only. A separate membership, costing at least $4, is required at every bar.

The new law will also allow restaurants to take down partitions known as "Zion Curtains" that separate bartenders from customers in restaurants. Currently, bartenders or servers must walk drinks around the bar before they're allowed to serve them.

The name "Zion Curtain" is a reference to the state's religious heritage as the home of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which tells its members to abstain from alcohol. The Mormon church counts about 60 percent of the state's population among its members

As part of a compromise, the state will impose tougher DUI and underage drinking penalties. Utah will also become the first state in the country to require bars to scan the ID of anyone who appears younger than 35 before being allowed to enter.

Information obtained through the ID scan, including name, age and address, will be kept on site for seven days so it can be accessed by law enforcement, despite concerns that keeping the information is a violation of privacy.

Article from http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=6004944

Indiana requires all purchasers to show ID effective 7/1/2010

Effective 7/1/2010

New ID Law – IC 7.1-5-10-23 states that employees who are selling alcoholic beverages for off premise consumption must require all individuals making a carry out purchase to show a photo I.D. To view the statute in its entirety, click here. In some rare instances, an individual may not have a photo I.D. If the individual wishes to make a purchase for off premise consumption, he/she may complete the following Statement of Age Form and provide it to the permittee, along with two forms of identification showing the purchaser to be at least twenty-one years of age.

Here is the new language

IC 7.1-5-10-23 IS ADDED TO THE INDIANA
CODE AS A NEW SECTION TO READ AS FOLLOWS
[EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2010]:
Sec. 23. (a) It is a Class B
misdemeanor for a permittee or an employee or agent of a
permittee to recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally sell, barter,
exchange, provide, or furnish another person an alcoholic beverage
for consumption off the licensed premises without first requiring
the person to produce:
(1) a driver's license;
(2) an identification card issued under IC 9-24-16-1 or a
similar card issued under the laws of another state or the
federal government; or
(3) a government issued document;
bearing the person's photograph and birth date showing that the
person is at least twenty-one (21) years of age.
(b) In a criminal or administrative proceeding, it is a defense to
a charge under this section that the individual to whom the
permittee or employee or agent of the permittee sold, bartered,
exchanged, provided, or furnished alcoholic beverages for
consumption off the licensed premises was or reasonably appeared
to be more than fifty (50) years of age.

Note section (b) - it appears one has a defense if the person 'looks' over 50 years old.

NY fines Utica for marketing with ID Scanner

This event was a first in NY as far as we know. In fact, this is the first time we are aware of any state taking action against a business using data collected from an ID Scanner. Clearly, any organization using an ID Scanner needs to review the laws in their state and perhaps a lawyer familiar with local regulations.

Article from http://www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2009/oct/oct29a_09.html

ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO ORDERS UTICA BAR MANAGER TO STOP COLLECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM I.D.S

Hollyrock principal used ID reader to validate proof of age upon entry, later used stored address information to send marketing materials ~ Manager must pay $5,000 fine and immediately stop using scanner to retrieve personal information

UTICA, N.Y. (October 29, 2009) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that his office has stopped an area bar manager from using an identification verification scanner to retrieve addresses and personal information for the purpose of sending out unsolicited marketing materials.

Through an agreement with Attorney General Cuomo’s Office, Matthew S. Demar, managing employee of the Hollyrock bar, located on Varick St. in Utica, must stop using the scanner in such a manner, destroy the personal information he wrongfully obtained and pay a $5,000 penalty to the state.

“This individual improperly used the personal information of customers to promote his business,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “By doing so, he violated state law regarding the use of personal information and now must stop this practice and destroy the records he illegally obtained.”

Demar employed a scanner to check the validity of a person’s identification. However, the scanner also has the ability to store and retrieve the information read.

New York state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Law permits the use of a scanner only to determine whether a person is 21 years of age or older as a precondition for the purchase of an alcoholic beverage. The statute prohibits the resale or dissemination of the information to any third person and it prohibits using that information for any advertising or marketing.

Attorney General Cuomo’s investigation determined that Demar collected the name, address, date of birth, gender, driver’s license number and expiration date of more than 5,000 individuals. Demar then sent a pamphlet advertising various events at Hollyrock to these former patrons.

Attorney General Cuomo urges all consumers to be cautious with their personal information to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft. Tips and important information can be found online at www.ag.ny.gov/bureaus/consumer_frauds/identity_theft.html.Utica-area Consumers who believe they are being defrauded or wrongly targeted by any business may contact the Utica regional office by calling 315-793-2225.

The Hollyrock case was handled by Assistant Attorney General-in-Charge of the Utica Regional Office Joel Marmelstein.

90 Citations for serving a minor in ONE weekend

Here is an interesting news article about a merchant in MA who was cited for serving 90 minors in one weekend. Apparently, the minors used Facebook and test messaging to broadcast this merchant's minor checking policy or lack there of. This merchant will have a tough time keeping his liquor license.


Here is the entire article which can be read at www.boston.com or at

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/newton/2009/10/newton_store_cited_after_90_mi.html


------------------ Orginal Article ----------------------------

By Matt Rocheleau, Globe Correspondent

A grocery store in Newton Corner faces citations that could jeopardize its liquor license after about 90 minors, including 50 with fake IDs, attempted to buy alcohol over the holiday weekend, state officials said following an investigation.

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission along with Newton police cracked down on the Newton Corner Mart on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening in response to complaints received by the commission and city police that the Centre Street store was selling alcohol to minors, officials said.

Investigators said the 90 minors were between 17 to 20 years old, most were from Belmont and most were college students home for the three-day weekend.

They were found in possession of, transporting, or attempting to purchase alcohol. Officials confiscated 45 cases of beer, 41 bottles of other types of alcoholic beverages and five beer balls, or mini kegs. Based on the national “binge drinking” standard, the amount of alcohol confiscated prevented delivery to approximately 600 minors, according to the commission.

Frederick Mahony, the commission’s chief investigator, said the Newton Corner Mart does not have a record of selling to minors in the past, and investigators were surprised at the number of underage people attempting to buy alcohol.

“Normally, you might see 10 to 15 [minors attempting to buy alcohol] per night,” in such investigations, he said. “But in this case it was double that.”

Mahony attributed the high number of underage customers to a trend he has seen where tech-savvy teens quickly alert each other by text message and on social networking sites like Facebook that a particular liquor store is not checking, or lenient in checking, identification.

The store faces eight civil charges for selling alcohol to a minor. The administrative charges against the store will soon be submitted for a hearing before the commission, and, if found guilty, the store’s liquor license is subject to suspension, modification or revocation.

The store’s owner, who does not face criminal charges, was not immediately available for comment. Newton police referred questions to the commission.

When the investigation began on Thursday, enforcement officials stopped between six to eight groups of minors in the parking lot after they had just bought alcohol at the store, said Mahony.

Officials then informed store owner, David Kong, of the investigation, that the store would face administrative charges, and put an undercover agent behind the checkout counter to check for fake IDs and minors attempting to buy alcohol, said Mahony.

Investigators found some “very, very good fake IDs,” among the 50 that were confiscated, he said. Other ID's were more obvious fakes, including a 17-year-old who handed the undercover clerk the license of a 34-year-old woman.

Two other 17-year-olds approached undercover officials in the parking lot, and the teens asked the officials if they could buy them alcohol, said Mahony.

“We never know what we’re going to see on a given night,” he added.

None of the underage shoppers were charged; but their information was taken down, and their parents were contacted directly from the liquor store parking lot as part of the state’s parent notification program.

Officials said such an investigation is an effective way to immediately prevent minors from obtaining alcohol, as well as a long-term deterrence to liquor store owners serving those who are under 21.

“There is no doubt that these operations save lives and prevent tragedies before they happen,” Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, who oversees the commission, said in a press release.

Fake ID Scanners or ID Verifiers

Do ID Scanners catch Fake IDs?

We often get this question and are careful to answer that the main purpose of an ID Scanner is to calculate age based on the date of birth stored in the IDs data stripe and record the event in a transaction log to prove due diligence.

We have seen some web sites advertise "stops fake ids" and we think that is misleading.

True, depending on the quality of the fake, ID scanners will catch some fake IDs, but that is not how they should be sold. Fake IDs are like Fake twenty dollars bills - they range in quality and its not possible to determine a document's authenticity by simply reading a bar code or magnetic stripe. One must also investigate the other security features on the document like UV inks (using special UV lights), or microprinting (using 10x magnifiers). Even after checking all these features, you still can't be sure its a real ID.

And finally there its still possible for a young sibling to be using their older siblings ID so you always have to be a bit of detective when checking IDs.

So, if you catch a fake ID with an ID Scanner, great. But keep your head in the game and don't believe that an ID Scanner is a Fake ID Catcher.