ACLU lawsuit targets camera tickets

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

The city and state are illegally providing a private company access to Hawai'i driver license numbers as part of the state's traffic camera program, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i charged in a lawsuit yesterday.

The release of Social Security numbers from driver licenses violates the U.S. and state constitutions and a federal privacy act, the suit said. The ACLU is seeking a temporary restraining order against further use of the information, a move that could effectively halt the unpopular camera program.

ACS, State and Local Solutions, the contractor running the camera program, photographs license plates of speeding autos. That information is matched with auto ownership records, but ACS uses Social Security numbers from most driver license applications to help verify the driver's identity.

"That database gives them access to whole host of personal information — name, addresses, date of birth," said Brent White, ACLU legal director. "With that type of information in the wrong hands, it's easy to get access to all kinds of medical, financial, credit and other information."

White said the federal Privacy Act of 1974 specifically requires the government to disclose, at the time it takes down a person's Social Security number, what it intends to do with it.

"The application form specifically promises that the information is collected for the sole purpose of providing me with a driver license," White said. "Now, they are disclosing it to a private company to issue speeding tickets."

On Jan. 1, 2001, the city stopped requiring Social Security numbers for new driver licenses, but hundreds of thousands of older licenses remain in use, White said.

The ACLU suit asks the court to halt the release of Social Security numbers to ACS and seeks the immediate retrieval of any information provided to ACS.

The suit does not name ACS as a defendant. White said there is no evidence of any wrongdoing on the company's part.

"It's the government's fault for releasing the information," he said.

Although White said the lawsuit is not aimed specifically at the traffic camera program, the granting of a temporary restraining order would have the effect of halting the program in its current form.

"At the least they'd have to go back to drawing board," he said.

City Corporation Counsel David Arakawa said the city merely collects information about driver license candidates using a state form, while the state is responsible for administration and operation of statewide traffic records. "Accordingly, the city does not believe that it was appropriate to name the city in this lawsuit," he said.

State Transportation Director Brian Minaai said his staff was reviewing the lawsuit and declined comment yesterday.

A hearing on the request for a temporary restraining order is scheduled for next Wednesday before Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall, White said.