Metro King County Moves to Protect Customer Privacy

THE METROPOLITAN King County Council has approved new standards protecting the privacy of individuals who use credit, debit or check cards to pay for county services.

The new standards, passed December 16, prevents electronic commerce systems—either Internet or interactive voice response—and counter, county staff from storing credit card, debit card or check card numbers in a database retrievable by any county employee or county systems. Agencies with existing systems that store these numbers in locations retrievable by any county employee must come out with a plan to comply with the new standards by December 31, 2003.

“As the county expands the number of services available online, we increase the potential of the wrong people gaining access to credit card information,” Councilmember Jane Hague, sponsor of the new standards, said. “This will protect our online customers and encourage people to use the e-commerce opportunities provided by King County.”

County residents can now purchase vital statistics such as birth and death records, bus passes and vehicle registration renewals (car tabs) online. Next year, the county will offer e-commerce pilot programs where residents can purchase pet licenses, pay Superior Court filing fees and property taxes on line.

Until the passage of the new standards, however, the county had no uniform system for managing receipts on transactions purchased with a credit, debit or check card.

“This is the county being responsive to its customers,” said Hague. “People need to be confident that they’ll not be the victim of identity theft if they use online services. This provides the necessary safeguards and accountability for e-commerce and all other debit, credit or check card transactions with King County.”

Reader Comments

Discuss this article in the forums!