The frustration of proving one's age to buy things like alcohol and tobacco does not end when you reach the appropriate legal age. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have a youthful appearance are forever burdened with having to carry a state-issued ID card to every place where we might want to buy alcohol or tobacco. Over the past few years, we've been gradually subjected to another, more intrusive ID-related hassle -- that of electronic drivers license scanning. It's one thing when a government representative scans your driver's license; it's another thing entirely when a restaurant does it, and records your personal information in the process. Is this legal? Ethical? Secure? In order to find out, I contacted an electronic security and privacy expert, and the American Civil Liberties Union.
The incident at Houstons
It was August of 2006, and I decided to take my girlfriend out to a nice dinner. She's particularly fond of the veggie burger at Houstons, a regional restaurant chain owned and operated by the Los Angeles-based Hillstone Restaurant Group, which also controls the Gulfstream, Bandera, Rutherford Grill, Palm Beach Grill, Cherry Creek Grill, Los Altos Grill, and Cafe R&D restaurants.
We sat down and ordered drinks. I was, of course, asked for my driver's license, which I presented to the waitress. My girlfriend was not asked for her ID, which she found somewhat insulting, being that she is of an age to be insulted by the assumption that she looks over 30. The waitress thanked me for handing over my Florida driver's license, then hurried away before I could both recognize the fact that she'd walked off with my ID, and organize some kind of protest. She returned a few minutes later with our drinks, and handed me my ID card. "Why did you need to take my license?" I asked. "Oh, we had to verify it," she replied. "Out of curiosity, what do you do to verify it?" "We scan it through a machine that makes sure it's real," she said cheerfully.
