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  • Fair Credit Reporting Act cited in Verizon, Alltel suits

    by 
    Chris Ziegler
    Chris Ziegler
    04.28.2008

    We've all had situations where our printed receipts have been just a little too wordy for comfort, disclosing details about our address or credit card (or worse, both) that a nefarious individual would kill to score. The 2003 Fair Credit Reporting Act was supposed to put a serious cork in that business by threatening offenders with a $1,000-per incident fine for willfully printing out secret stuff beyond December 2006; Verizon and Alltel are being accused of ignoring that little clause of the FCRA, though, with class action suits du jour recently filed in Pennsylvania and Georgia respectively. For its part, Alltel says it's in the clear because it hasn't been printing both the credit card number and the expiration date on its receipts, and furthermore, the plaintiffs haven't proven that they've had their identities stolen as a result of its practices. Verizon has responded with a shorter, snippier comment, simply saying that it "did not commit any wrongful act" against the accusers. Seriously though, what's so hard about just not printing that stuff?