| Can People Look Up My Driver's License on the Internet? | |
Below is an email I received today. The link goes to a site that claims
to be able to research driver's licenses. I know that — in California at least — they
are wrong as far as the law is concerned. I don't know what their real goal
is, though.
Dear Guide:
| My cousin sent me this. This will let you access any drivers license in the US. I thought we had laws against this kind of thing. |
Dear Reader:
Now, here is a home page that would seem to confirm all of our worst fears about the Internet.
Billed as the Web site of the "National Motor Vehicle License Bureau," it purports to offer a "free searchable database of over 121 million U.S. driver's license photos and license information."
How can that be?
"The United States B.S. amendment to the Freedom of Information Act enacted on Sept. 3rd 2004 provides public access to motor vehicle driver's information in an electronic format," the blurb continues. "Under the Motor Vehicle Operator License Identification Act (MOLIA), all US states are required to adhere to the Driver's B.S. statute and store an electronic copy of all valid drivers licenses in their state..."
So, by filling out a simple Web-based form, any user can search the Bureau's centralized database containing more than 220 million driver's licenses.
There's just one slight hitch: It's a joke, a prank, a parlor trick. It ain't real!
Another visitor describes what actually happens when you type in your name and "search" the site:
"If you do enter a name, state, town and gender, what comes up is a picture of a grinning monkey and the question, 'You didn't really think you could get someone's driver's license on the Internet, did you?'"
 "National Driver's License Records Bureau" Web site |
Like most popular prank Web sites, this one succeeds not only because of its slick design and surface plausibility, but because it plays on people's very real fears — in this case, the fear of privacy invasion. I'm told some people have found this site so upsetting they've written to their Congressmen about it; others are nonplussed and simply forward the URL on to their most gullible friends. Both reactions confirm an old truism among folklorists: people tend to joke about that which is most serious to them. It's one way we express, share, and cope with what scares us.
Security Note:
In answer to folks who have written to me expressing concerns about the possibility that the Web site listed above stores visitors' private information or leaves cookies on their computers, etc., I have checked the source code and found no indication of malicious activity. That could change without notice, however, and there are several other, similar sites out there whose safety I can't vouch for, so proper caution and "safe computing" measures are recommended as a matter of course.
Last updated: 10/24/05
