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If we re-framed this as "California Hall of Records selling property purchase records for an administrative fee" would folks have the same reaction? Is the pro

If we re-framed this as "California Hall of Records selling property purchase records for an administrative fee" would folks have the same reaction? Is the problem here that they are selling DMV records related to authorization to drive a car (public records) or that in order to exist you need an identification and therefore regardless of whether you own a car you have to deal with the DMV? I would argue it is the latter. Defacto sale of one's identity that is required by the state to interact with it. Outside of that record, I have no problem with public records being available to the public provided the fee structure is not causing corruption / capture (causing prices to inflate unreasonably) and data is being provided to everyone at the same rate.

cj 7y ago
> Is the problem here that they are selling DMV records related to authorization to drive a car (public records) or [...] I think the problem is that they're selling people's phone number AND full address (which most people consider private information, not assumed to be public).
- sailfast 7y ago
  If they sold all of that together with your name I could see that as a problem. I didn't see that in the case of California, but follow-on Vice articles report > The data sold varies from state to state, but it typically includes a citizen's name and address. In others, it can also include their nine-digit ZIP code, date of birth, phone number, and email address If a state were to sell all of those things that would indeed be odd.
sib 7y ago
Yes, there are states where that information is not for sale / not freely available. There's no particular reason that car ownership (or house ownership and pricing) needs to be public information.
sib 7y ago
"Is the problem here that they are selling DMV records" Given that the California CPA clearly considers this type of information to be private, not public, information, that seems like a fair thing to consider a problem...

cj 7y ago

> Is the problem here that they are selling DMV records related to authorization to drive a car (public records) or [...] I think the problem is that they're selling people's phone number AND full address (which most people consider private information, not assumed to be public).

sailfast 7y ago
If they sold all of that together with your name I could see that as a problem. I didn't see that in the case of California, but follow-on Vice articles report > The data sold varies from state to state, but it typically includes a citizen's name and address. In others, it can also include their nine-digit ZIP code, date of birth, phone number, and email address If a state were to sell all of those things that would indeed be odd.

sib 7y ago

Yes, there are states where that information is not for sale / not freely available. There's no particular reason that car ownership (or house ownership and pricing) needs to be public information.

sib 7y ago

"Is the problem here that they are selling DMV records" Given that the California CPA clearly considers this type of information to be private, not public, information, that seems like a fair thing to consider a problem...