2/8/2006
DC DMV Violates Federal Privacy Law Washington, DC ignores law designed to protect motorists from identity theft.
Although Washington, DC routinely capitalizes on the strictest interpretation of its own traffic laws, the federal city has found itself in violation of a federal law intended to protect drivers from identity theft. Since December it has been illegal to display Social Security numbers on driver's licenses, yet the District Department of Motor Vehicles continues to offer this as an option.
"I confess, I haven't read through the law that carefully recently," DMV general counsel Corey Buffo told the Associated Press. "I guess we're a little behind the timeline on the federal law. That's not entirely unusual."
Over forty percent of the capital's licenses are not in compliance and officials say it will take until 2011 to replace them all. The Distict will charge $7 to any of the 190,000 motorists who want a compliant license before its expiration -- potentially bringing in $1.3 million in revenue.