Posted on 09/09/2019 2:32:00 PM PDT by gattaca
As citizens in the digital age, we deal with so many privacy scandals and data breaches that entire books could be filled with stories about them. And it's not just high profile individuals anymore, either. Between Yahoo's billions-strong security hack or Facebook's Cambridge Analytica debacle, nearly everyone you know has probably suffered a privacy breach at some point recently.
Thanks to recent reports, it's becoming even more clear that you or someone you know has likely had their data accessed without their explicit permission. Only this time, the culprits aren't criminals or hackers on the internet, but ordinary bureaucrats at agencies nearly every American depends on.
In shocking new reports, multiple DMVs across the country were caught red-handed selling the personal data from driver license applications to third parties. Not only has this information changed hands numerous times without applicants knowing, but it's also netted these DMVs millions of dollars along the way. Here's why they're doing it, as well as what it means for your privacy.
Private eyes get priority access to DMV information According to an explosive new report from Vice, Departments of Motor Vehicles in states across the country have been selling the personal information of drivers to third parties. Most of these entities are businesses, but the most notable buyers happen to be private investigators, who often start with contacting the DMV when they begin investigating an individual.
For their reporting, Vice obtained hundreds of pages of documents from these DMVs via public records, which revealed that names and addresses are among some of the most commonly accessed data by third parties.
In response to the reporting, DMVs implicated in the stories stated that license photographs and Social Security numbers are not among the data they had granted third parties access to. Gee, thanks.
How is this even legal? Most people apply for licenses and car registration under the assumption that the DMV is the only organization with access to their information, and perhaps local and state governments as well.
It's also not illogical to assume that law enforcement such as highway patrol or parking enforcement may want access to these records. As a society of laws, most of us make a tacit assumption that police will have access to this information in some form, and we've mostly accepted this as part and parcel of daily life.
But private investigators that track individuals for profit are an entirely different story, as are third-party companies. Surprisingly, however, the letter of the law explicitly allows this kind of exchange of information thanks to the signing of the Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) during the 1990s.
While it was originally intended to limit access to DMV records exclusively to certified individuals like law enforcement, private investigators, and other related entities, the law was crafted before privacy became the cultural monolith that it is today.
As for the DMV, being an already underfunded chain of bureaucracies, the sale of private data is a massive bonus to their operations budget. One specific branch even reported making more than $77 million on the sale of private data in 2017 alone.
What can be done to keep my driver data private in the future Being that these organizations operate in tandem with state and local governments, the solution to this situation is more political than personal.
A number of senators and congresspeople have already proposed amending or changing the DPPA to reflect modern attitudes towards privacy, although it's currently unlikely that a bipartisan consensus will be reached any time soon on the matter.
In light of other recent privacy scandals such as Cambridge Analytica, however, ranking members of congress have taken a closer look at some of the practices of organizations like state DMVs, with Senator Ron Wyden explicitly calling for "[closing] loopholes that are being abused to spy on Americans."
What you can do in the meantime, however, is focus on cleaning up some of the other excess data floating around about you on the web.
If DMV data is only restricted to a few points of information, it will be worth your while to remove any additional data about you so it's much less easy for investigators to know your whole life's story. Click or tap for our guide on how to remove your personal data from people finder sites.
Remove your personal data and opt out of data broker sites -- here's how "People search" websites are a booming business, but the people behind them are only able to get away with what they do by allowing people to "opt out" of having their data collected. The trick is knowing which platforms to look for, as well as how to remove yourself from them. That's why we've put together our guide to delete your information from data brokering platforms, as well as the best ways to prevent them from skimming your profiles in the future. You have a right to privacy, after all. It's time you exercised it.
Click or tap to take your privacy back.
without applicants knowing
What cave has this writer been living in? Consistently for 75+ years, insurance companies, credit reporting companies such as equifax (x Retail Credit), Car sales agencies, you name it, have been openly buying this information and 99% of drivers and people with and IQ above room temperature have known it.
I remember in the 1950s one of my teachers railing against it. I remember pastors telling jokes involving it repeatedly.
My first job after Vietnam was heavy on MVRs Motor Vehicle Records.
Same reason you sell anything...MONEY!
It’s obvious, it’s for the money.
Thanks for the post.
In 1990 I moved to where I am now and changed my driver’s license to reflect it. It wasn’t a month and I was getting junk mail to that specific address. They have been selling it for years. Now they want you to list your phone number. Why? They have never ever called with a question. No, it’s worth more money. I list my old disconnected one.
It is marked on your license that you require corrective lenses (glasses) if you are less than 20/40. No one wants others driving with worse than 20/40 and not wearing their glasses, Mr. Magoo.
A “right” to privacy? A “right” to vote? It all sounds fine and dandy, but in truth these are privileges, not rights, strictly speaking. Thanks to decades of public schools and the “right” to an education, “strictly speaking” has become a thing of the pabst. How gay is that?
And this is why I get those car warranty spam calls. I first found it alarming that someone knew what car I had.
4 later
I could go for a Pabst right now.
Go for it!
I am not talking about a little note ON the driver’s license. I am talking about my friend’s FULL medical record embedded electronically and scanned by a police officer at the accident.
Yep - I thought it might be my dealer when I started getting ads to buy protection for my new car...but a lot of them called it a “Mercury” instead of “Mercedes”...on my registration card it is abbreviated as “Merc”...
It’s not just the Dmv.....I changed Dr’s and they insist I have to give them my ‘full’ social security number, not just the last four digits. Though they use a dummy number to begin the process of new Patient until you bring your card in. why can’t they just use the dummy anyway?
BUMP!
See post #19
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3777592/posts?page=19#19
key quote:
Recently a friend phoned me very upset. She had been in a minor bicycle accident. The police wanted her to go to a hospital. When she said she didn’t need to the officer asked for her drivers license. Then he scanned it. My friend was shocked to discover that her medical records were now attached to her recently renewed driver’s license.
PING
Recently a friend phoned me very upset. She had been in a minor bicycle accident. The police wanted her to go to a hospital. When she said she didn’t need to the officer asked for her drivers license. Then he scanned it. My friend was shocked to discover that her medical records were now attached to her recently renewed driver’s license. She said when I renew in 2020 they will also have my medical records.
Do I want them to know about my state of vision when I am careful to only drive when the roads are quiet and do it slowly and with full attention. No cell phones/texting, etc.
I am politically active and this is the first I have heard about this new assault on our privacy without even telling us about it. A nearby state is now informing residents that they have a deadline to get these new licenses.
Thanks, Whenifhow.
Never did FB....I tell people all the time...they shouldn’t.
Hippees from Brooklyn falsely shrieked about “Fascism” so many times it made your eyes glass over.
Then THEY were the elected people.
And what happened?
Yes, they BECAME the very fascists they raised the alarm about.
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