A US federal court has blocked the Trump administration from accessing a database containing personal information of more than 17 million commercial drivers. The judge has put a temporary ban on this. The database includes sensitive information such as drivers’ Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers.
The court also prohibited the administration from withholding more than $10 million in federal funding to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones and a group of attorneys general from several states challenged the demands from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security.
The Virginia Attorney General’s Office said the court order temporarily barred the Transportation Department from obtaining the records and barred Homeland Security subpoenas pending the legal proceedings.
“The federal court’s temporary restraining order is a major victory to protect the privacy of millions of commercial drivers,” Jones said.
“By preventing the U.S. Department of Transportation from obtaining more than 17 million sensitive records and by blocking a Department of Homeland Security subpoena, this decision ensures that Virginians’ data remains secure and under the state’s control during the legal process. The judge’s decision reaffirms long-standing privacy and governance protections for driver information owned by the state,” he said.
The federal government’s side was not included in the information released from Jones’ office.
This dispute is regarding the Commercial Driver License Information System (CDLIS). Congress created the system in 1986 so states could share information about people applying for a commercial driver’s license and find out if the applicant has a license in another state.
Since 1988, the Department of Transportation has entrusted the work of running this system for the states to a private non-profit organization named ‘American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators’.
Records maintained in the database include the driver’s name, date of birth, Social Security number, driver’s license number, and the name of the state that provided the information.
Jones and other attorneys general filed two related lawsuits last week. The Department of Transportation, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the association that runs the database are parties to a lawsuit. The second lawsuit challenges the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to obtain the records.
The lawsuits allege that federal agencies are violating multiple privacy laws by trying to create a separate database using state records obtained from the association.
The claim is that the proposed database would not have safeguards controlling the use or sharing of Social Security numbers and other personal information. He also says that this attempt was made without any public information.
Jones said he will now seek a preliminary injunction to prevent the information from being transferred during the trial.
The attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania, also joined the legal action. The Attorney General of Minnesota became involved in the case related to Homeland Security.
Commercial driver’s license records are maintained and maintained primarily by individual states, although federal regulations set nationwide standards for licensing of drivers who operate trucks, buses, and other large commercial vehicles.
Before approving an application for a commercial driver’s license, states examine the applicant’s identity, medical fitness, immigration status, and licensing and driving history in other states where the person may have been licensed.
Disclaimer: This news is automatically published by auto feeds. There has been no change or editing of any kind in this news by BhaskarHindi.com team. The entire responsibility of this news and the materials used in the news rests solely with the news agency and before using the information given in this news, definitely take advice from experts of the relevant field (lawyer / engineer / astrologer / architect / doctor / news agency / other subject expert). Therefore, BhaskarHindi.com news portal does not take any responsibility regarding the related news and text matter, photos, videos and audios used.