<B>AM-Driver's Privacy,0594<P> <B>Judge blocks driver's records secrecy law in S.C.<P> <B>By MONA BRECKENRIDGE<P> <B>Associated Press Writer<P> COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A federal law that prohibits the release of personal information from driver's licenses and car registrations is unconstitutional, a judge ruled Thursday in blocking enforcement of the law in South Carolina starting this weekend. State Attorney General Charlie Condon had challenged the Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994 on behalf of media groups from five states and two national media organizations. Condon contended the law was an improper infringement on states' rights. U.S. District Judge Dennis Shedd agreed, ruling that Congress "clearly exceeded its power." He said the government, which argued that the law would prevent stalkers from tracking their victims, failed to show that it was necessary to protect a constitutional right of privacy. Drivers should not expect their names, license numbers, addresses, phone numbers and photographs to be private, the judge said. Shedd's ruling blocks enforcement of the law, which is to take effect nationwide on Saturday, in South Carolina only. The only other state to challenge the law so far has been Oklahoma, where the case is pending. "This is a real victory for open governments and open records," said Bill Rogers, executive director of the South Carolina Press Association. "South Carolina already has a very good law to protect people from stalkers and harassing phone calls." Thirty-four states make motor vehicle records public in some form, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The federal law would restrict almost everything in state motor vehicle records that can be looked up using a license plate or driver's license numbers, unless an individual agrees to its release. The law was sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in response to the 1989 slaying of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, who was killed at her California home by a man who used a private investigator to obtain her driver's records. The law, however, might not have prevented Schaeffer's slaying, since it would keep motor vehicle records open to police, private investigators, insurance companies, credit agencies and direct-marketing companies. States that did not designate their records as secret could face federal penalties of $5,000 a day. State workers who give out such information could be penalized $2,500 each time. "We are very disappointed by Judge Shedd's decision. We think that driver's privacy protection is an important anti-crime measure," said David Sandretti, Boxer's spokesman in Washington. Justice Department spokesman Joe Krovisky said he could not comment because the agency had not seen Shedd's ruling. Agency officials have 60 days to decide whether to appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he said. Shedd relied partly on the U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling on the so-called Brady Law, in which the justices said Congress could not make local police do criminal background checks on people who want to buy handguns. "Unquestionably, the states have been, and remain ... responsible for maintaining motor vehicle records, and these records constitute property of the states," Shedd wrote. The media groups that challenged the law were the press associations of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland-Delaware, and the Newspaper Association of America and the American Society of Newspaper Editors.