Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield is leading a coalition of 21 state attorneys general and the state of Pennsylvania in a lawsuit against federal agencies over demands for personal data belonging to 17 million commercial drivers.

Concerns Over Driver Privacy

The legal challenge follows threats from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to withhold more than $10 million in federal funding from the nonprofit organization that manages the driver database if the records are not surrendered. The lawsuits target the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, and the Department of Homeland Security.

According to the filings, federal officials sought five years of driver records without public notification or established limits on how the sensitive information would be stored or shared. Commercial driver license data has been shared among states through the Commercial Driver’s License Information System since 1986 to prevent drivers from holding licenses in multiple states.

Rayfield warned that the federal demand threatens driver privacy and exceeds federal authority. “This is about whether millions of working Oregonians and Americans can trust that their most sensitive information won’t be misused,” Rayfield said.

Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.