| Laws | |
| Topics and Issues | Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) (2) Public Records (25) |
In 2011, CDIA, the Coalition for Sensible Public Records Access (CSPRA), and West Publishing teamed up to file a joint amicus in a case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The amicus was in support of the defendants, who were information resellers that were allegingly “stockpiling” personal information obtained from the Missouri Department of Revenue, and obtaining an entire database only for resale, without an immediate permitted use violated the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), 18 U.S.C.S. §§ 2721-2725. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri granted the resellers’ motions to dismiss and the drivers appealed.
The appellate court upheld the lower court and found that the proper focus under the DPPA was not the manner in which the information was acquired, but the use to which it was eventually put. It was apparent from 18 U.S.C.S. §§ 2721(b), 2722(a), and the DPPA as a whole and that it was concerned with the ultimate use of drivers’ personal information, not how that information was obtained. The drivers offered no persuasive argument that Congress intended to limit the states to disclosing personal information one request at a time, or why it would want to. Bulk obtainment of the information for a permissible purpose did not violate the DPPA. Nor did the language of 18 U.S.C.S. § 2721(c) or the legislative history suggest an “authorized recipient” had to have an authorized use. Section 2721(c) restricted only authorized recipients, not authorized or permissible users. The DPPA was concerned only with use of the information, not the entity requesting it. Resellers’ documentation requirements in § 2721(c) as to each sale to a third party also indicated Congress was primarily concerned with the end use of the information. Section 2721(c) explicitly permitted resales and did not require that resellers first use the information themselves.