The U.S. House of Representatives Friday approved a $49.5 billion transportation appropriations bill containing new privacy protections for motorists sharply conflicting with those of the Drivers Privacy Protection Act (DPPA).
The new privacy protections in the bill, effective as of June 1, require state motor vehicle officials to obtain the written permission of licensed drivers and registered motor vehicle owners before providing information about them to third parties for marketing purposes.
States failing to comply with the existing DPPA lose federal aid if they do not offer drivers the chance to opt out of having their names made available for direct marketing. The new proposal specifies that states will not lose federal transportation aid even if they don’t offer drivers the chance to opt in to have their names rented out for direct marketing.
Industry officials have misgivings about this new approach.
Richard A. Barton, the Direct Marketing Association’s senior vice president, Congressional matters, said bill’s opt-in provision “makes motor vehicle lists virtually worthless for marketing purposes as it basically overturns the DPPA.”
The measure, previously approved by the Senate, (S-1143) but with slight differences, now goes to a conference committee to reconcile the two versions into one for ratification by both chambers.
Earlier in the year a federal appeals court set the stage for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the constitutionality of the five-year-old law by affirming a lower court judge’s declaration that it wrongly directs states to enforce federal policy and is therefore unconstitutional.
The High Court is expected indicate at its opening session today when it will hear the Clinton Administration’s appeal of those two rulings.
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