Nixon says the Web site provides access to such personal information as Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of birth and criminal records to anyone with a credit card. Access to Social Security numbers can be purchased for as little as 97 cents per number.
"My office has constantly stressed consumer education as a means of knowing how to avoid identity theft," Nixon said. "However, all the education in the world means little if there is a Web site out there like this one that takes personal information and makes it conveniently available to any identity thief."
Nixon's lawsuit is requesting that the court issue a temporary restraining order and eventually, a permanent injunction, that requires the defendant to disable its Web site to the extent that it allows searches by, or retrieval of, Missourians' Social Security numbers.
Nixon says that both the U.S. Congress and Missouri General Assembly have passed measures to protect the driving records and personal information of Missourians. The Federal Driver Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), passed in 1994, and its state counterparts allow individuals and businesses to obtain information contained in an individual's driving record, but only for certain uses specified in law.
Anyone who provides this information to third parties is obligated under federal law to ensure that the third party's use of the information is for a legitimate purpose allowed under the law. Nixon says A1 Peoplesearch unethically failed to properly verify the use to which its subscribers put the data the defendant sold to them.
"It's important to note that there are legitimate commercial and governmental uses for this information, and our lawsuit is not intended to cut off that access," Nixon said. "But identity theft is obviously not one of those legitimate uses, and we will not allow the physical and financial security of Missourians to be compromised by Web sites such as a1peoplesearch.com."
In addition to requesting a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief, Nixon's lawsuit is also asking the court to order the defendant to pay civil penalties and all costs of investigating and prosecuting the case.
Today's lawsuit is the second time in the past two months that Nixon has taken action against a Web site that sells the personal information of Missourians. The Attorney General filed a lawsuit February 20 against Publicdata.com, another Texas company that had been selling such personal information as Social Security numbers, addresses, birthdays and physical descriptions of Missouri consumers at a cost of $9.95. That lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, is pending.
