Regan, Priscilla M. --- "The United States" [2008] ELECD 398; in Rule, B. James (ed), "Global Privacy Protection" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008)

Book Title: Global Privacy Protection

Editor(s): Rule, B. James

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848440630

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: The United States

Author(s): Regan, Priscilla M.

Number of pages: 30

Extract:

2. The United States
Priscilla M. Regan
In 1989, a young California actress, Rebecca Shaeffer, was stalked and shot to
death by an obsessed fan who obtained her home address from the California
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The death of this celebrity drew media
attention to the problem of stalking and to the myriad databases of personal
information that could be used to find someone. In this case, the focus of atten-
tion turned to drivers' license records, maintained by the 50 states and consid-
ered in most states to be a public record database that could be accessed for a
fee. In 1994 Congress passed the Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) to
restrict access to such information including name, address, telephone number,
photograph, and medical or disability information. The DPPA was introduced
in the Senate by Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and in the House by Jim Moran (D-
VA) both of whom had constituents who had been victims of releases of infor-
mation from state DMVs. Direct marketers, private investigators and the
media all lobbied against the DPPA.
As soon as the law became effective in September 1997, the state of South
Carolina sued claiming that the law violated the Tenth Amendment which
states that powers not delegated to Congress are reserved to the states. A
federal district court in South Carolina agreed and enjoined enforcement of the
DPPA in South Carolina stating that `the states have been, and remain, the
sovereigns responsible for maintaining motor-vehicle ...