State pressed to take blame for release of private data

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

Even though the state has scrapped the so-called "van cam" speed limit enforcement program, that does not make moot a lawsuit brought by a woman who claims the state illegally gave her Social Security number to the private company that operated the van cam program, the woman's lawyers claim.

Brent White, legal director of the ACLU's Honolulu office, told Circuit Judge Gary Chang Monday that state transportation officials should be made to admit they were wrong to turn over Social Security numbers to van-cam operator Affiliated Computer Systems. White also wants a court order telling state officials not to release such information again or to sell it to third parties. Release of the information violates state and federal privacy laws, White said.

State Deputy Attorney General Wayne Matsuura said ACS officials have "certified" that a computer disk containing the Social Security information has been given back to the state and that the company has no other Social Security number information regarding Hawai'i drivers.

But attorney Brook Hart told Chang that ACS must have kept copies of the estimated 15,000 to 17,000 speeding tickets — many of them containing Social Security numbers — that the company issued to O'ahu motorists during the short-lived program to document its requests to be paid by the state.

Chang continued the matter for a week so that Matsuura could ask ACS officials whether they made copies of any of the speeding citations the company issued, and if so, whether Social Security numbers appear on any of the copies.