Florida is making millions of dollars a year selling your personal information--and it’s perfectly legal.
Sen. Bill Nelson called for an investigation Friday into the state practice that Action News Jax has spent the last two months investigating.
So far in 2016, seven vendors have their access terminated because they didn’t follow the rules.
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Only two have followed up and complied with the requirements. That means five vendors could be misusing your personal information.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is profiting by selling your personal information including your name, address and driving history.
"That doesn't sound legal. I mean it sounds like the state attorney's office needs to be doing something about it," driver Richie Annett said.
But it is legal under Florida statute and the department has been doing it for decades.
"The fact that it's legal doesn't make it moral or correct," said Dale Carson, Action News Jax law and safety expert.
The information is not supposed to be used for marketing purposes, but Carson said there’s really no way to monitor what is being done with the information being sold.
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"There's no real way that the government can prevent misuse of our personal information and that's just inappropriate," Carson said.
For close to a month, Action News Jax pushed the department for answers. A spokesperson for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said the way it works is that any vendor wanting to buy information must agree with their terms and specify how they’re going to use it.
Most drivers said they had no idea this was happening.
"That's incredible. I just don't think that our information should be sold like that," driver Bruce Wilson
said.
During our Action News Jax investigation, we found 84 vendors that were buying personal data in Florida. In the last fiscal year, the department raked in more than $70 million, all going into the state’s highway operating trust fund.
"It would be nice to know who's getting my information," driver Eleece Morgan said.
Carson said even though it’s legal, ultimately it could put people at risk.
"If people have your address or are looking into this information for evil reasons, they can use it to harm us," Carson said.
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Nelson is asking the Department of Justice to investigate whether Florida is violating a federal law that prohibits private companies from accessing someone’s driving record for marketing purposes without their express consent.
The department doesn’t shop your information around. The companies contact the state. Driver's photos, Social Security numbers and medical and disability information is not given out.
Cox Media Group
