[Previous entry: "The Central Spammer"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "ChoicePoint hires privacy officer"]

04/06/2005 Archived Entry: "SHERIFF HUNTS CRITIC: NO FILM AT 11"

SHERIFF HUNTS DOWN CRITIC. Is anyone here surprised?

Debra here. A sheriff in Orange County FL (you know, the state where everyone and their grandmother is being Tasered) didn't like a certain letter to the editor of a local paper. It criticized him, you see. And called him fat, hurting his wittle feewings.

So what does he do? Uses those honest-and-for-true-super-private driving records to hunt the writer down and send her a scathing response.

Under the Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994 (ha ha ha), it is illegal to access a driver's license database to obtain personal information, except for clear law-enforcement purposes. Yet the sheriff's office insists that it was legal to look up the address, because "responding to a resident's concern" (by writing her a nasty-gram) is "well within the sheriff's official duties".

Yeah, sure. Uh-huh.

Posted by Debra @ 11:40 AM CST
Link