• On February 10, 2011, the Supreme Court of California held that zip codes are “personal identification information,” or “PII,” for purposes of the Song-Beverly Act and, as a result, they may not be required as a condition to the acceptance of credit cards as part of a transaction. The Act prohibits retailers from “request[ing], or requir[ing]” PII “as a condition to accepting the credit card.” The decision came in a case filed by a Williams-Sonoma customer who complained that the store had violated her rights under the Act by requesting her zip code during a credit card transaction, then recording and combining it with her name to find her address, and storing the information in a database for marketing purposes. Penalties under the Act are a maximum of $250 for the first violation and $1,000 for each violation thereafter. Pineda v. Williams-Sonoma Stores, Inc., No. S178241 (Cal. Feb. 10, 2011).