On Mon, 2002-09-23 at 22:59, T. Kenji Sugahara wrote: > Risk management needs to be all over this issue. Identity thieves have > already been caught with copies of DMV records on CD. What's next? > Each breach could cost the state millions with ensuing litigation. State agencies, and the people working for them, are often immune from private lawsuits unless the legislation authorizing the agency allows for such suits. A state agency can be sued in Federal court for something like a civil rights violation, but the litigation would be risky and expensive; Federal courts shy away from interfering in state government and apply very narrow interpretations to Constitution when it comes to suits against the government. In the case of something authorized at the state level, like driving license records, the state is probably immune from individuals and outside the jurisdiction of Federal law. Government agencies and their employees enjoy various levels of immunity from lawsuits for a good reason: the government would lose its effectiveness if everything it did could be challenged in court. And judges would have de facto legislative power (more than they already have) if every complaint against a state agency ended up in court where a ruling had to be made one way or another. If we want protection from state agencies mishandling personal and confidential information we'll have to do it through the legislature, not through the courts. I'm not an attorney, your mileage may vary. -- Greg Jorgensen PDXperts LLC, Portland, Oregon, USA
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