Thread by @chrisvanderveen

THREAD

Wanna tell ya about a funky story I've been working on for a number of months.

It involves car warranty companies. And DMV data

Anyone get any of these in the mail lately? If so, hold on to them. If not, continue reading. This gets a little nutty.

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#9news

So a few months ago... I got this email from a man named Dave.

Dave bought a 2012 Impala. As his email says, he paid cash for it. No financing. No dealer

A week after he registered it with the Colorado DMV... he started getting those post cards from car warranty companies

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Dave's question led us here at 9News to contemplate something a little goofy.

Somehow I convinced my bosses to sell me a station car (used by @CHansen9NEWS)

Here's the bill of sale to prove it. Yes, I bought it for a dollar. No dealer. No financing. Just me an the DMV.

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I went to the DMV to register it.

Here's a pic to prove it

(@CHansen9NEWS with the stealth cam)

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Anyhoo... guess what showed up in my mailbox a week later?

See that pink post card?

it's from a company known as "US Automotive Protection Services"

Google em. You'll find out all sorts of fun stuff about em

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In order to understand this, you have to understand the Colorado DMV has been selling personal data for years

Through an open records request, we found 1 company - Colorado Interactive, AKA NIC Colorado - has purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars of bulk data for years

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But here's the deal...

You might not like that, but it's reality. There's all sorts of reasons why states sell DMV data.

And those reasons are largely permitted under federal law.

There's just one catch. You can't use DMV data for, well, we'll let the contract say it.

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Catching on?

David and I both received pitches for car warranty companies -- one of which has an F rating with the BBB -- a week after we registered cars.

And if -- a big IF right now -- those companies got our info from DMV data, it could be illegal under federal law.

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And, trust this guy, this ISN'T just about car warranty companies.

If there's a hole in how DMV data is being used, it could result in all sorts of OUR personal information ending up in places where we might not want it to end up in

(This is Joe Malley. Texas attorney)

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Malley has sued lots of people for misuse of DMV data

There are a lot of people who don't want to be found, he says. Victims of domestic violence, for one

The federal law to protect DMV data started after the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer. She was found w/DMV data

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Malley says we found a leak in Colorado DMV data with our little "buy a car for a dollar" stunt.

"states have been totally, totally careless with our data," he told me.

The problem is... where is the leak? As of now, we can't say. Neither can the state.

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But we can say this...

I showed the head of the department that runs Colorado DMV what showed up in my mailbox...

and a few weeks later, the state opened up an investigation,

the state Attorney General now involved too.

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I'll leave it at that for now.

There's a LOT more to this story.

Which is why we'll have much more on this investigation tonight on @9NEWS at 9 and 10.

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One more thing...

If YOU have gotten one of these post cards shortly after registering your car with the Colorado DMV...

I'd really like to hear from you.

My email is [e-mail]

And thanks Dave for the tip! (we do read those things)

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