🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <odT84.1147$Ev3.34778@cmnws01.we.mediaone.net>,
  "Top Law" <toplaw@mediaone.net> wrote:
> Let me clear up any misconceptions:
> 1. DMV does NOT sell DL information except for driving records to
>  persons with a need to know;

The point was that DMV sells vehicle registration (VR) information to
businesses for $5 per license plate number.
[Sources:
http://www.amcity.com/sanjose/stories/1997/07/21/editorial2.html
...this is essentially the same story:
http://www.amcity.com/sanfrancisco/stories/1997/07/14/editorial2.html
That information comes from a state audit.]

<snip>

>This makes the DL address info only available to law enforcement.

A common myth!  It SHOULD be that way, IMO.  There are "more than 68,000
requesters that trade or access data with DMV."  "These agencies include
law enforcement, local government AND BUSINESS PARTNERS."  (Emphasis
mine.)  [Source: Read under the heading "How DMV fixed its programs" at
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/about/y2k/y2k.htm  --Straight from the DMV
itself!]

Here are but a FEW of the private industry entities that have access to
DMV information, including vehicle & vessel registration (VR):
-Automobile Club of Southern California - Some DMV services such as VR
are available at AAA offices.
-Car and Truck Rental and Leasing Assoc.
-Financial Institutions, as title holders of vehicles they finance
-Insurance companies - receive information, interpretation/updates
pertaining to financial responsibility laws and DMV procedures.
[Source: The Warner Group Management Consultants, "Business Applications
And Information Technology Independent Study," Final Report, May 12,
1995.  This was another state-funded audit.]


> 3. the SS # is not on the DL.

The Social Security Number (SSN) is part of both the driver's license
(DL) and vehicle & vessel registration (VR) records.  (You are correct
if you meant that it does not appear on the driver's license itself.)
DMV spokesman Evan Nosoff cited that it took 28 full-time programmers a
year to add a field for Social Security numbers to driver's license and
vehicle registration records.  [Source: Langberg, Mike, "Obsolete
Computers Stall DMV's Future," San Jose Mercury News, May 2, 1994]  (As
an aside, the reason it took so long is that the system is complex and
proprietary and, by today's standards, antiquated.  The VR and DL
applications are written in assembly language and COBOL on the back end
(VR also uses DYL280), and the front end that runs in DMV field offices
is written in EDL --the DMV's own proprietary "event driven language.")


>One point is that names and addresses ARE made available to local
>agencies for particular purposes, such as jury duty.  But that does
>not include the DL number of records.

Safeway employees garnered license plate numbers from a competitor's
parking lot, and for $5 each, the DMV sold the names and addresses of
the vehicle owners to Safeway.  [Source (also given above):
http://www.amcity.com/sanjose/stories/1997/07/21/editorial2.html ]


>priviledge to drive is a public license.  You cannot expect
>confidentiality.

We *can* demand privacy.  DMV should not be allowed to sell our home
addresses to businesses, but that's currently part of the information
they sell.  I can't believe I can't even convince anyone this is going
on!  This is public information!

Want more?  The DMV collects $5.1 billion in annual revenue.  Observe:
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/about/profile/what_dmv_does.htm
...only $1 billion of that is from the Motor Vehicle Account (MVA),
i.e., "revenues from vehicle registration and driver license fees":
http://www.lao.ca.gov/transportation_crosscutting_anal97.html#_1_3
(search on that page for "MVA").

Licensing accounts for more DMV revenue, and selling information to
businesses accounts for more.  That's public and all online at the
Legislative Analyst's site: http://www.lao.ca.gov/


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