Originally published February 12 2006
Attorney General bans the sale of drivers license information
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Minnesotans are being swindled because their drivers license information is available for sale, says TwinCities.com. A new proposed bill would allow individual license information to be disclosed only if the consumer gives written permission.
Hundreds of Minnesotans are being ripped off by thieves who use drivers license information available on a Web site to produce counterfeit checks, a detective on the Minnesota Financial Crimes Task Force said today.
In response, Attorney General Mike Hatch called for banning the state Department of Public Safety from selling drivers license information to commercial companies.
At a Capitol news conference, detective Jack Talbot said identify theft and financial fraud has become the fastest growing crime in the state largely because thieves are using the on-line drivers license information to produce counterfeit checks and drivers licenses.
"I have hundreds and hundreds of victims because of this," he said.
Talbot said he often finds drivers license printouts from the Web site when he executes search warrants on check counterfeiters.
Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, and Rep. Jim Davnie, DFL-Minneapolis, will introduce bills in the 2006 Legislature to prohibit the Public Safety Department from releasing the state's list of 3.5 million licensed drivers to anyone except government agencies, primarily for law enforcement use.
The bill would allow the department to disclose individual license information only if the consumer gives written permission, and when that person's name was released, it would report the name of the requester to the citizen whose data was disclosed.
The state would charge a $5 fee for the release of each consumer's data, and the revenue would fund the financial crimes task force.
But that won't protect the data on drivers license lists that has already been released to more than 5,000 businesses, governmental agencies and other entities, Hatch said.
"The horse is out of the barn in Minnesota."
Talbot urged consumers to check their bank account records daily to watch for counterfeit checks.
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