Fourteen carve-outs. That is how many permitted uses Congress wrote into the federal law that decides who gets to look inside a state motor vehicle record. The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 2721, was added by Public Law 103-322 on Sept. 13, 1994, and its core rule has not moved since: a state motor vehicle department, along with its officers, employees and contractors, may not knowingly hand over personal information from a driver’s record unless the statute allows it.
The rule and its stricter tier
Personal information is the default category. For a narrower class the statute calls “highly restricted personal information,” the bar is higher. The department needs the person’s express consent, with exceptions only for four uses: government functions, court and legal proceedings, insurance work, and employer checks tied to commercial driver’s licenses. A separate clause protects organ-donation details on a license, so the privacy rules do not interfere with donation programs.
Who can still get the data
The permitted uses read like a directory of everyday institutions. Government agencies, courts and law enforcement can use records in their work. So can anyone dealing with vehicle safety, theft, emissions, recalls and product alterations. Businesses may use a record to verify details a person supplied, or to correct them for the purpose of preventing fraud or recovering a debt. Others on the list include:
- parties to civil, criminal, administrative or arbitral proceedings, including service of process;
- researchers and producers of statistical reports, provided the data is not published or used to contact people;
- insurers and anti-fraud units;
- towing and impound notices to owners;
- licensed private investigators and security services;
- operators of private toll facilities.
Two more routes depend on the driver. A record can be released for any other purpose if the state has the person’s express consent, and bulk lists for surveys, marketing or solicitations also require that consent. A requester who can show the person’s written consent qualifies too.
Strings on resale
Getting the data legitimately does not mean passing it along freely. A recipient may resell or redisclose it only for a use the statute permits, and anyone who does so must keep, for 5 years, records of who received it and for what purpose. The state motor vehicle department can ask to see those records.
A law that was tightened
Congress amended the section in 1996, 1999 and 2000. The 1999 change replaced opt-out language with a requirement that states obtain express consent for the two consent-based uses. It took effect on June 1, 2000, with later deadlines for a handful of states, some of which were waiting on the Supreme Court’s decision in Reno v. Condon. The 2000 amendment added the highly restricted tier and a ban on states conditioning the issuance of a record on consent, though a state may still charge an administrative fee.
