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                Date: 2000-01-13
                 
                 
                US: Verbot von Datenhandel fuer Behoerden
                
                 
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      q/depesche  00.1.13/2 
 
US: Verbot von Datenhandel für Behörden  
 
Der Oberste Gerichtshof der USA hat einstimmig  
beschlossen, dass es den Bundesstaaten auch fürderhin  
nicht erlaubt sein soll, die Daten von Führerscheininhabern  
weiter zu verkaufen. 
 
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In an opinion released today, the Supreme Court has  
unanimously held that Congress did not exceed its  
constitutional authority when it enacted legislation  
establishing privacy safeguards for motor vehicle records held  
by state agencies.  Several states challenged the Drivers  
Privacy Protection Act, arguing that Congress had violated  
the Tenth Amendment. 
 
Central to the Court's decision in Condon v. Reno was the  
fact that information obtained by state motor vehicle agencies  
is now routinely sold in interstate commerce.  The Court, in  
an opinion by Chief Justice Rehnquist, said that "the motor  
vehicle information which the States have historically sold is  
used by insurers, manufacturers, direct marketers, and  
others engaged in interstate commerce to contact drivers  
with customized solicitations.  The information is also used  
in the stream of interstate commerce by various public and  
private entities for matters related to interstate motoring.   
Because drivers' information is, in this context, an article of  
commerce, its sale or release into the interstate stream of  
business is sufficient to support congressional regulation." 
 
The Supreme Court rejected the argument made by South  
Carolina that the Drivers Privacy Protection Act violated the  
Tenth Amendment, holding that "the DPPA does not require  
the States in their sovereign capacity to regulate their own  
citizens. The DPPA regulates the States as the owners of  
databases." 
 
EPIC filed an amicus brief in the case arguing in support of  
the Drivers Privacy Protection Act.  EPIC said in its brief: 
 
The Drivers Privacy Protection Act safeguards the personal  
information of licensed drivers from improper use or  
disclosure.  It is a valid exercise of federal authority in that it  
seeks to protect a fundamental privacy interest.  It restricts  
the activities of states only to the extent that it concerns the  
subsequent use or disclosure of the information in a manner  
unrelated to the original purpose for which the personal  
information was collected.  The states should not  
impermissibly burden the right to travel by first compelling the  
collection of sensitive personal information and then  
subsequently disclosing the same information for unrelated  
purposes. 
 
The decision is remarkable, particularly in light of recent  
cases where the Supreme Court has typically deferred to  
state Tenth Amendment claims and struck down federal  
statutes or claims brought in federal court. 
 
The decision in Condon v. Reno (US 2000) is available at: 
 
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/98-1464.ZO.html
                   
 
EPIC's Amicus Brief in Condon v. Reno is available at: 
 
http://www.epic.org/privacy/drivers/epic_dppa_brief.pdf  
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edited by  
published on: 2000-01-13 
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