Tom Smedinghoff, an intellectual property partner in
Edwards Wildman's Chicago office, commented on how the Massachusetts Supreme Court has ruled that ZIP codes are personally-identifiable information in Ad Age. In the article, "
Massachusetts to Retailers: ZIP Codes Are Personal Info," Smedinghoff said, "These rules [Massachusetts and California laws] that you can't collect ZIP codes are in laws regulating the use of credit cards. I think we're going to see more of this in part because of the growing number of studies that indicate how easy it is to identify someone with very limited amounts of information."