CA Supreme Court: stores can't ask for zip code

California's Supreme Court has ruled  unanimously in Pineda v. Wiams Sonoma  (15 page pdf) that retailers don't have the right to ask customers for their ZIP code while completing credit card transactions because doing so violates a cardholders' right to protect  personal information. The court's opinion points to a state law intended to protect consumer privacy by prohibiting retailers from "soliciting and recording information about the card-holder that is unnecessary to the credit card transaction". That includes not only the customer's address and phone number but also information, such as a postal code, that can be used to locate the customer.