4 ms·

The data is not sold to the public. You must be a private investigator, lawyer, debt collector or other limited party. The data is used mainly to find people an

The data is not sold to the public. You must be a private investigator, lawyer, debt collector or other limited party. The data is used mainly to find people and enforce their legal obligations. It's been going on for many years and is widely known. I'm surprised this is a story.

eggsnbacon1 6y ago
its easy to get this stuff. You can just pay some anonymous person on Fiverr that has access. Nobody should have access to this without a warrant, its a huge invasion of privacy.
- zdragnar 6y ago
  Warrants aren't given out to several types of people with a legitimate reason to need the access. A better alternative is to have strict recording and auditing of requests and legal accountability for abusing the access (such as renting it out on fiverr).
btilly 6y ago
In theory it is not sold to the public. In practice, it isn't hard for motivated members of the public to figure out how to get access. I personally know someone who was a victim of stalking back in the 90s. Her stalker managed to find out where she lived by getting it from the California DMV. The only way she found to block it was to move and have her car owned by someone else so that there would be no DMV record. The result is that while this is not new, it really should be a story.
- giantg2 6y ago
  It's also not that hard to get the information from other sources too. If your scenario happened in the 90s, it might have been before the DPPA law took effect. The author has a clear bias and is using an event that took place before the protections were in place to further their agenda.
  - btilly 6y ago
    It would have been before DPPA. However social engineers have no problem getting information. And private investigators are easy for anyone to hire. I doubt that the DPPA will slow a dedicated stalker much.
- vajrabum 6y ago
  The law restricts the public from getting this information precisely because of stalking. The Drivers Privacy Protection Act was passed in 1994.
  - joshuaheard 6y ago
    California has a similar restriction on real property ownership public records. Private records can still be obtained.
- coffeemaniac 6y ago
  Just in case the info is useful for anybody, there are some other ways around this if you're willing to go to the trouble of re-titling the vehicle into a trust or LLC. But due to vehicle history records it's still hit-or-miss.
- nikonyrh 6y ago
  Oddly in Finland the full name, address and phone number corresponding to a car's registration plate is public information. But a full data dump isn't available. You must query them one-by-one for a fee of a few euros (I think).
moate 6y ago
>>The data is not sold to the public. You must be a private investigator... So the data is sold wholesale to private investigators/lawyers and retail to the public. This is just a supply chain. The data is sold to the public.
dikaio 6y ago
yeah P.I. (Ex law enforcement), shady lawyers are people that should have that data...
AdmiralAsshat 6y ago
> You must be a private investigator, lawyer, debt collector or other limited party. Having spent most of my professional career providing software support to Debt Collectors--I think you're greatly overestimating the level of professionalism by your average debt collection agency.

eggsnbacon1 6y ago

its easy to get this stuff. You can just pay some anonymous person on Fiverr that has access. Nobody should have access to this without a warrant, its a huge invasion of privacy.

zdragnar 6y ago
Warrants aren't given out to several types of people with a legitimate reason to need the access. A better alternative is to have strict recording and auditing of requests and legal accountability for abusing the access (such as renting it out on fiverr).

btilly 6y ago

In theory it is not sold to the public. In practice, it isn't hard for motivated members of the public to figure out how to get access. I personally know someone who was a victim of stalking back in the 90s. Her stalker managed to find out where she lived by getting it from the California DMV. The only way she found to block it was to move and have her car owned by someone else so that there would be no DMV record. The result is that while this is not new, it really should be a story.

giantg2 6y ago
It's also not that hard to get the information from other sources too. If your scenario happened in the 90s, it might have been before the DPPA law took effect. The author has a clear bias and is using an event that took place before the protections were in place to further their agenda.
- btilly 6y ago
  It would have been before DPPA. However social engineers have no problem getting information. And private investigators are easy for anyone to hire. I doubt that the DPPA will slow a dedicated stalker much.
vajrabum 6y ago
The law restricts the public from getting this information precisely because of stalking. The Drivers Privacy Protection Act was passed in 1994.
- joshuaheard 6y ago
  California has a similar restriction on real property ownership public records. Private records can still be obtained.
coffeemaniac 6y ago
Just in case the info is useful for anybody, there are some other ways around this if you're willing to go to the trouble of re-titling the vehicle into a trust or LLC. But due to vehicle history records it's still hit-or-miss.
nikonyrh 6y ago
Oddly in Finland the full name, address and phone number corresponding to a car's registration plate is public information. But a full data dump isn't available. You must query them one-by-one for a fee of a few euros (I think).

moate 6y ago

>>The data is not sold to the public. You must be a private investigator... So the data is sold wholesale to private investigators/lawyers and retail to the public. This is just a supply chain. The data is sold to the public.

dikaio 6y ago

yeah P.I. (Ex law enforcement), shady lawyers are people that should have that data...

AdmiralAsshat 6y ago

> You must be a private investigator, lawyer, debt collector or other limited party. Having spent most of my professional career providing software support to Debt Collectors--I think you're greatly overestimating the level of professionalism by your average debt collection agency.