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NHTSA Complaint Database Oozes Personal Data

Posted by timothy on from the now-that-sounds-jes-disgustin' dept.

EWNiedermeyer writes "Are your name, address, date of birth, driver's license number and Social Security number publicly available online? If you've been involved in an accident, they might be and you would never know. The Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration solicits defect complaints from the public, which are hosted on NHTSA's public database. There are about 792,000 of these complaints currently online, and as the video at the link proves, many of them are improperly redacted. As a result, the most personal information imaginable is available to anyone who takes the time to troll the database. This is a clear violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, and NHTSA needs to shut down the database until it can control the personal data stored there."

6 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Typical by Adambomb · · Score: 2, Funny

    http://www.dot.gov/pia/nhtsa_artemis.htm

    what?

    --
    Ice Cream has no bones.
  2. OK, OT, but government is alway inefficient... by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 4, Funny

    Look, even the State of NY couldn't simply take a cut of horse racing bets without losing money.

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    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  3. Well, just make sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    That you never get into an accident. If you do, then you must accept that it's just god punishing you for being evil

    1. Re:Well, just make sure by cosm · · Score: 2, Funny

      That you never get into an accident. If you do, then you must accept that it's just god punishing you for being evil

      If thats the case for an errant mistake of judgment, what is are the biblical ramifications of immoral activities? By your standards all politicians and murderers should have already spontaneously combusted and turned into piles of dog turds that are succinctly eaten by a pack of rabid grues. If only...

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      'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
  4. Re:Why is redaction so hard? by AHuxley · · Score: 3, Funny

    excuse for failing to protect data:
    The backend computer system is dumb, slow, old and badly coded, but connects flawlessly with other backend computer systems state wide and federally.
    All the staff understand the gui.
    It was built and contracted to a faith based firm that gives to both parties and has deep roots in the local community.
    Many public, private and dark databases like the current system and lax data protection laws.
    You entered the data freely, now it belongs to anyone with a database, no questions asked.

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    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  5. Trolling the database? by YourExperiment · · Score: 4, Funny

    As a result, the most personal information imaginable is available to anyone who takes the time to troll the database

    Hey, database! You know what I SELECTed * FROM last night? Yo momma!