France: Government Selling DMV Data To 3rd Parties? |
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File under France Opinion
Author: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
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Governments can do whatever they want... right? Just have a look at the Wikileaks  debacle, and you know that the people we pay to administer us, once they get there, will do anything to a) stay in power and b) get rich.
In France, land of liberty, brotherhood and equality, last year, the politicians passed, very quietly, a law called LOPPSI 2 (the first Loppsi had died a very public death thanks to the general protests). LOPPSI, a long French term boiling down to "better internal security", really means one thing; like any country that starts a phrase with "internal security", you know they are going to be walking all over your civil rights. And that's exactly what they are doing. LOPPSI is also attacking not only pedophile sites, but also sites like Wikileaks and other sites that denounce government illegal practices.
One of the most interesting things this new law allows the government to do is sell all information contained in the French equivalent of DMVIn the United States of America, a Department of Motor Vehicles (or DMV) is a state-level government agency that administers vehicle registration and driver licensing. Similar departments exist in Canada. The name "DMV" is not used in every state or province, nor are the traditional DMV functions handled by a single agency in every state, but the generic term is universally understood, particularly in the context of car registration, driver's license issuance and renewal. to 3rd parties. Not only can they sell which motorcycles/cars you own, manufacturer, power, but also your name, address and telephone number, and not only your current car or motorcycle, but also your previous ones.
Officially, the government states that this is because it will allow the car or motorcycle manufacturers to be able to properly recall their cars, since dealer's paperwork is not always up to date, but the DMV ones are.
Sounds reasonable so far.. right? But anyone can purchase this information, not just the manufacturers. Once you allow one company to buy the information, you need to let other companies access.
On one side of the scales are the marketing companies. They can now target specific income groups. If you own a Honda Gold Wing or a BMW K1600GTL, they know you've spent a lot of money, and if they also see that you have a Porsche, then it's BINGO! You can start expecting a lot of junk mail, telephone calls etc.
On the other side of the scales are the criminals. Now when an order comes in for a Ducati Desmosedici RR, instead of scouting around the city for one, all they need to do is look up their DMV records, and they know your name and address, so they can steal your precious motorcycle while you are sleeping. The perfect criminal shopping list. A wet dream come true.
UMP, the ruling party, the ones that came up with this beauty, are denying any wrong doing. According to them, the law just allows for statistics to be run.
So on the flip side, I could buy the DMV listing and find out what the politicians drive privately..... and where they live, and their phone numbers, and .... you get the picture.
Via: Le Parisien
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