California’s Department of Motor Vehicles apparently caught personnel from Allstate Insurance illegally accessing online records for personal purposes, and subsequently banned the company’s direct access to the system pending further review. Previous incidents involving obtaining personal data through online DMV searches has resulted in criminal acts, and is therefore an issue of significant concern for the state and privacy groups, who maintain that appropriate safeguards are not in place to protect personal data that often includes medical reports.
For further reference on this issue, please see the text of the Federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act that defines limitations on public access to personal data on drivers collected and maintained by state motor vehicle departments.