The Shelby amendment protects drivers' license photographs and other sensitive information. Initially, Image Data reported that it was purchasing photographs from South Carolina and Florida for anti-fraud uses by merchants cashing checks. Even before the federal government's involvement was exposed, however, citizens and state legislators raised a firestorm of protests against the sale of driver's license photographs and most states cancelled their contracts. In the view of numerous experts on privacy, none do. Actually, opt-out schemes are largely designed to discourage choice and instead to compel participation by unwilling, unknowing, consumers.
Examples abound that the industry designs opt-out programs to fail.
Complaints about opt-out schemes are too numerous to do more than provide a few examples. Every day, consumers are reminded that they have virtually no control over what enters their mailbox. In other words, they have no say over how their personal information is used by marketers. It shows that the industry's intent is to design opt-out mechanisms that do not work. In 1996, consumer groups sought to give consumers the right to prevent their credit reports from being used for marketing purposes without informed opt-in consent.