7 ms·

Every single DMV does this. This data is sold to companies like Markit. It's then resold to hedge funds, market research firms, etc. The data is extremely spec

Every single DMV does this. This data is sold to companies like Markit. It's then resold to hedge funds, market research firms, etc. The data is extremely specific. It's a database of the majority of Americans: * Name * Age * Address * Some contact details * Cars registered (and the relationship to individuals and households)

csours 7y ago
Vehicle registration information is very important to a lot of businesses. I don't like the idea of personal information being tied to it.
JohnFen 7y ago
This is exactly right. It's one of the many reasons why I ditched my car as soon as that was feasible.
exhilaration 7y ago
I just want to point out that the first three items on your list are even more easily accessible through the voter rolls. You can buy the statewide voter list, usually in convenient CSV files (though every state does it differently), from the your local state government at a very low cost.
- noobermin 7y ago
  That's what I thought, that's already public knowledge. The dumb thing is whoever is buying doesn't know that. I guess the pairing with car registration is the key thing.
myself248 7y ago
I kept my last car for 9 years, and when I bought my current car, I noticed an immediate and MASSIVE uptick in postal spam. Not just vehicle-related either -- I have a feeling that "registering a new car" feeds heavily into all sorts of "target this person" algorithms. I wish there was some way to opt out of this.
- EastSmith 7y ago
  A simple fix for this would be the sender to be required to show where they obtained your personal data from: "We have obtained your personal data from the following company / database".
  - dredmorbius 7y ago
    Attribution is one thing. Right to legal remedy (read: lawsuit), far more powerful.
- mywittyname 7y ago
  Can you own and register a vehicle through a business without purchasing commercial insurance?
  - jedberg 7y ago
    I'm not 100% sure but I think the answer is no. You can however purchase a car via a trust if you want to obfuscate ownership. You can also have a law firm purchase it for you. Of course both of those things cost money and only really rich people do it.
    - Keverw 7y ago
      Interesting about trusts, I've seen articles talking about that, wealthy people do that to protect their assets. I know celebrities create trusts to try to hide where they live for privacy since they don't want to be stalked in their own home by fans. But some states apparently consider large Diesel Vehicle automatically commercial if registered to a trust, instead of a living person. So fuel tax permits, log book, etc. Many states exempt RVs from those rules, and it goes by your state of domicile. So legal in FL, your also legal in TX or IL... So to drive a 38 foot RV, towing a Jeep weighting over 26,000 pounds is just needing a large checkbook, no real experience in about half the US. I know NY and TX are a bit stricter, but FL, SD, TN, OH it's just having the money, thanks to the RV lobby wanting to make it easier for retired couples. Kinda interesting If you lived in NY, sold the house, then rented a mailbox and spend a night in South Dakota, then spend a half hour at the very empty small town DMV. Now you have a more powerful driver license by default than New York State issues. School buses are considered commercial vehicles, but rip out the seats, put a bed, fridge, stove, bathroom and retitle it as a RV, then no longer need a CDL to drive the same bus too, but some states make it easier than others to do a conversion. Some states it's just filing out a form, while others are more picky wanting to inspect it.
Shivetya 7y ago
plus as I found out more than a decade ago before the public really caught wind of how all this interconnects, combine it with easily captured properly records and even vehicle registration data, and if someone wants to stalk you they can do it all with government provided data. Better yet, good smarts when combining the information can lead to income strata and more. hence why I have been always poking at the fact that facebook, google, and their like, are not the threat. the threat has always been government, either through open records like this is people within it using other internal databases to find ways to harass you.
- Spooky23 7y ago
  The government is the best place to have data because regulation limit sharing significantly within government. Bureaucracy hates risk. In most cases, government entities cannot mix data from DMV and say Medicaid. The risk is the bigger data aggregators, as they mix this data and add value. The data is sold on the cheap. Adtech and data aggregation is almost completely deregulated, and these companies add “value”, which is risk to you as an individual.
  - Sabinus 7y ago
    So the problem isn't government having information on you, it's that 'because America' they're allowed to distribute and even SELL the information non-anonymized for no good reason.
- mindslight 7y ago
  > facebook, google, and their like, are not the threat. the threat has always been government How does it follow from one group being a threat, that the other one is not? This is an awfully weird form of denial. It would be more coherent to insist that there is absolutely no problem with any surveillance.
- distances 7y ago
  > hence why I have been always poking at the fact that facebook, google, and their like, are not the threat. the threat has always been government It's fascinating how this view is typically American, while the exact opposite is more common in Europe.
boring_twenties 7y ago
It's all the more amazing, then, that those scams that try to convince you that your warranty is expiring and sell you a new one can never answer the question "which vehicle are you referring to?"
- dboreham 7y ago
  Perhaps they only understand "to which vehicle are you referring?" :)
- Keverw 7y ago
  Yeah, I heard those warranty calls people at random, but wouldn't surprise me if some bought people's information from the DMV, especially if they did know your model.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
OrgNet 7y ago
> * Some contact details this includes phone numbers and it causes about 90% of phone spam...
t34543 7y ago
Aka a CLUE report.

csours 7y ago

Vehicle registration information is very important to a lot of businesses. I don't like the idea of personal information being tied to it.

JohnFen 7y ago

This is exactly right. It's one of the many reasons why I ditched my car as soon as that was feasible.

exhilaration 7y ago

I just want to point out that the first three items on your list are even more easily accessible through the voter rolls. You can buy the statewide voter list, usually in convenient CSV files (though every state does it differently), from the your local state government at a very low cost.

noobermin 7y ago
That's what I thought, that's already public knowledge. The dumb thing is whoever is buying doesn't know that. I guess the pairing with car registration is the key thing.

myself248 7y ago

I kept my last car for 9 years, and when I bought my current car, I noticed an immediate and MASSIVE uptick in postal spam. Not just vehicle-related either -- I have a feeling that "registering a new car" feeds heavily into all sorts of "target this person" algorithms. I wish there was some way to opt out of this.

EastSmith 7y ago
A simple fix for this would be the sender to be required to show where they obtained your personal data from: "We have obtained your personal data from the following company / database".
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  Attribution is one thing. Right to legal remedy (read: lawsuit), far more powerful.
mywittyname 7y ago
Can you own and register a vehicle through a business without purchasing commercial insurance?
- jedberg 7y ago
  I'm not 100% sure but I think the answer is no. You can however purchase a car via a trust if you want to obfuscate ownership. You can also have a law firm purchase it for you. Of course both of those things cost money and only really rich people do it.
  - Keverw 7y ago
    Interesting about trusts, I've seen articles talking about that, wealthy people do that to protect their assets. I know celebrities create trusts to try to hide where they live for privacy since they don't want to be stalked in their own home by fans. But some states apparently consider large Diesel Vehicle automatically commercial if registered to a trust, instead of a living person. So fuel tax permits, log book, etc. Many states exempt RVs from those rules, and it goes by your state of domicile. So legal in FL, your also legal in TX or IL... So to drive a 38 foot RV, towing a Jeep weighting over 26,000 pounds is just needing a large checkbook, no real experience in about half the US. I know NY and TX are a bit stricter, but FL, SD, TN, OH it's just having the money, thanks to the RV lobby wanting to make it easier for retired couples. Kinda interesting If you lived in NY, sold the house, then rented a mailbox and spend a night in South Dakota, then spend a half hour at the very empty small town DMV. Now you have a more powerful driver license by default than New York State issues. School buses are considered commercial vehicles, but rip out the seats, put a bed, fridge, stove, bathroom and retitle it as a RV, then no longer need a CDL to drive the same bus too, but some states make it easier than others to do a conversion. Some states it's just filing out a form, while others are more picky wanting to inspect it.

Shivetya 7y ago

plus as I found out more than a decade ago before the public really caught wind of how all this interconnects, combine it with easily captured properly records and even vehicle registration data, and if someone wants to stalk you they can do it all with government provided data. Better yet, good smarts when combining the information can lead to income strata and more. hence why I have been always poking at the fact that facebook, google, and their like, are not the threat. the threat has always been government, either through open records like this is people within it using other internal databases to find ways to harass you.

Spooky23 7y ago
The government is the best place to have data because regulation limit sharing significantly within government. Bureaucracy hates risk. In most cases, government entities cannot mix data from DMV and say Medicaid. The risk is the bigger data aggregators, as they mix this data and add value. The data is sold on the cheap. Adtech and data aggregation is almost completely deregulated, and these companies add “value”, which is risk to you as an individual.
- Sabinus 7y ago
  So the problem isn't government having information on you, it's that 'because America' they're allowed to distribute and even SELL the information non-anonymized for no good reason.
mindslight 7y ago
> facebook, google, and their like, are not the threat. the threat has always been government How does it follow from one group being a threat, that the other one is not? This is an awfully weird form of denial. It would be more coherent to insist that there is absolutely no problem with any surveillance.
distances 7y ago
> hence why I have been always poking at the fact that facebook, google, and their like, are not the threat. the threat has always been government It's fascinating how this view is typically American, while the exact opposite is more common in Europe.

boring_twenties 7y ago

It's all the more amazing, then, that those scams that try to convince you that your warranty is expiring and sell you a new one can never answer the question "which vehicle are you referring to?"

dboreham 7y ago
Perhaps they only understand "to which vehicle are you referring?" :)
Keverw 7y ago
Yeah, I heard those warranty calls people at random, but wouldn't surprise me if some bought people's information from the DMV, especially if they did know your model.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

OrgNet 7y ago

> * Some contact details this includes phone numbers and it causes about 90% of phone spam...

t34543 7y ago

Aka a CLUE report.