IHOP Privacy Invasion

Who would ever believe your driver's license
is required simply to get pancakes? In a
instance without corporate approval, a suburban
Boston outlet of International House of Pancakes
(IHOP) had invaded the privacy of it's customers.

It seems, customers were required to leave their
driver's license with a security guard as a
requirement to be seated for service. Evidently
this particular IHOP outlet had previously been
the victim of non paying customers.

What helped to expose this incident as an invasion of
privacy, was a former identity theft victim was taken
aback by that local IHOP's request for his personal
information.

A driver's license contains primary information which
many retailers use to verify identity against credit
cards and check cashing transactions. In the hands
of an identity thief "data collector" it's worth
hundreds of dollars each if sold to the various fraud
rings in operation domestically.






Massachusett's driver's licenses can still
contain social security numbers (ssn) on
them along with your address and date of
birth (dob).

So, our tip for today is to always protect your right
to privacy. Just because some misinformed employee
or business wants access to your personal information
information that does not translate into a legal
requirement. Always question, especially outside
of a financial transaction you are generating,
why someone would need your driver's license
and or social security number (ssn).

If you were or someone you knew who was a victim of this
privacy invasion and want to eliminate the social security
number from your driver's license, you contact the Mass.
DMV.

Remember, it's your rights under the law to protect your
personal information.