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Capitol View®
Briana Bierschbach

DPS ‘inadvertently’ shared driver’s license data

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The Department of Public Safety said it "inadvertently" gave the addresses of roughly 1,500 people to companies that administer safety recalls for vehicles after the individuals requested that information be kept private.

In a Dec. 28 letter to a resident whose data was shared, the department said the data was accessed by the companies Experian, RL Polk and SafetyFirst Recalls in a “bulk motor vehicle” database that contains all motor vehicles titles or registrations in the state.

Under state and federal laws, the department is required to release motor vehicle data to these companies, which use them to help car manufacturers sent out safety recall notices.

Names and addresses are included in the bulk data, but under the law residents can request that the information is kept private. The names and addresses were sent to the companies along with motor vehicle data, according to Department of Public Safety spokesman Bruce Gordon.

State law allows individuals and families to request that their addresses and names be kept private and provide an alternate address if they have concerns for their safety.

Minnesota IT Services, government’s lead IT agency, has since removed the records of all individuals who asked that their information be kept private, according to the letter.

According to the Department of Public Safety and Department of Vehicle Services, "no information that private data has been accessed or used unlawfully."

Republican Rep. Paul Torkelson, who chairs the House Transportation Committee until power switches over next week, said he was not notified by the administration about the data sharing -- he heard about it from a citizen.

“What irritates me the most the department didn’t bother to let us legislators know that there’s an issue,” he said. “I finding that alarming.”