As restaurants around the United States and elsewhere look to reopen, some lawmakers want those businesses to keep additional data on their customers that can be used to help track citizens' movements, as a part of the requirements for some of the COVID-19 reopening plans.

Those Offering Table Service Must Keep Customer Data for 30 days

In Washington, lawmakers there want restaurants to keep details on customer phone numbers, emails, arrival times and names, and that data must be held for at least 30 days.

That is for people who will be dining in at the restaurant. But some businesses have already expressed discontent with these new rules, worrying that it violates guest privacy.

As far as concerns over privacy go, lawmakers say that the data is only going to be used for "contact tracing" and nothing else.

Other lawmakers in Oregon had similar requirements for businesses as a part of their reopening plans, but they have since revised them and the controversial data tracking requirement that businesses keep a log of customers.

But businesses in other areas of the United States have moved forward with similar new rules, to keep that data on any guests that are coming to dine in at the restaurant.

This is just one more edict that will work to prevent some businesses from seeing more sales, at a time when they truly need it the most. There might be some people who simply don't want their lunch or dinner exchanges being tracked in this way, with additional details being kept of their visits. Those businesses should be able to decide for themselves what data they want to collect or keep, and for how long.

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