On Tue, 25 May 1993, Doug Brightwell wrote:

...

My understanding is that in many states, the Department of Motor Vehicles Records indexed on license plate number, and containing the name, address, and other information about the owner, is public or semi-public. How would an interested party go about finding this information? How difficult or costly is it? And what all is actually listed in the record?

Several weeks following a car accident that I was involved in, I received a notice from the California DMV notifying me that someone had filed a request for the information on my vehicle registration. From the name and address on the notice, I figured out that it was the other driver's attorney, probably wanting to know where to send a subpoena. Apparently, anyone can walk into a DMV office, fill out a form, pay $1.00 (or whatever) and get the info because it's public record. However, at least the DMV also alerts the "investigatee" to the fact that someone now has their home address, and provides the name and address of the requestor.

Here in Florida, the information is supposed to be confidential. Operation Rescue (a group of fanatical Christians intent on harassing abortion clinics and patients) has an employee in the DMV who snatches the number somehow, however. They now sit around in front of the clinics and jot down the license numbers of patients and use their inside contact to find the name and address of the patient and harass them. ObRelation2Cypherpunks: We are now trying to justify using the computer privacy laws to prosecute specifically for the fact that the records are being held electronically and Operation Rescue is illegally obtaining this information and not going through proper channels. Hugs and kisses, -Ryan the barcode guy