Top Stories
Why Missouri may be giving a French conglomerate access to your personal information
April 25, 2013 posted by Steve Brownstein
Some Missouri state senators say the Department of Revenue is failing to protect your personal information when you renew your driver's license.
They say the state is sending your birth certificate and other personal data to a private company called MorphoTrust USA, which is a division of the French conglomerate, Safran.
A spokesperson with the Department of Revenue sent a statement saying, "Scanned images of peoples' documents are NOT sent to MorphoTrust USA. The contract with MorphoTrust stipulates that the basic information that's sent to the company and that's used to make the driver licenses and IDs is destroyed after the IDs are produced. The Department gets weekly reports noting that this action has been taken."
But State Senator Kurt Schaefer (R) 19th District, says recent testimony proved just the opposite and he added the state can't verify anything is destroyed.
Up until six months ago, when you went to renew your driver's license you had to show proof of ID like a birth certificate and electric bill. In December workers started scanning those documents. Whether some or all of those documents are sent to MorphoTrust remains in dispute.
All of this came to light over the past few weeks when gun owners going to renew their conceal carry permit were told the only way to get a new license was to have their information scanned.
In recent state hearings, officials with Missouri Highway Patrol admitted they sent the federal government 165,000 names of everyone in the state with a conceal carry permit. An agent with Social Security said he was conducting a criminal fraud investigation but said he destroyed the state data when he couldn't read it.
Sen. Schaefer said, "The sheer fact that this data was destroyed indicates this wasn't a criminal investigation but a fishing expedition to profile all conceal weapons holders in the state of Missouri." We asked, "Why Missouri? Do you know if they've gone after the same information in other states?"
Senator Schaefer said, "No, but I want to find out."
Amazingly, officials confirm a highway patrol staffer sent all of this private data on an encrypted disc by placing it in an envelope and sending it through the U.S. mail.
That is something Sen. Schaefer called "gross negligence."
In an effort to find the truth, members of the Senate Appropriations committee requested information from the Department of Revenue. DOR Sent over tens of thousands of documents in about 50 boxes.
It turns out the Department of Revenue was scanning records of everyone who had a conceal carry permit. That practice ended Tuesday when Governor Jay Nixon ordered it to stop.
But nothing has changed for people just trying to renew their driver's license.
DOR is sending your records to MorphoTrust USA. The company, which is owned by a French corporation, has a motto: To simplify, protect, and secure the lives of the American people.
When the company verifies your identity and issues your license your private information is supposed to be destroyed but according to Senator Schaefer, no one at the state level is verifying that.
"There is no one in the Department of Revenue responsible for making sure that happens. DOR said we know it's being destroyed. How? Somebody got a phone call," he said.
MorphoTrust's parent company is Safran, which specializes in retina scans and other forms of Identification. Many in Jefferson City want to know more about this company, how it operates, and proof that personal records of Missourians are being destroyed.
Some Missouri state senators say the Department of Revenue is failing to protect your personal information when you renew your driver's license.
They say the state is sending your birth certificate and other personal data to a private company called MorphoTrust USA, which is a division of the French conglomerate, Safran.
A spokesperson with the Department of Revenue sent a statement saying, "Scanned images of peoples' documents are NOT sent to MorphoTrust USA. The contract with MorphoTrust stipulates that the basic information that's sent to the company and that's used to make the driver licenses and IDs is destroyed after the IDs are produced. The Department gets weekly reports noting that this action has been taken."
But State Senator Kurt Schaefer (R) 19th District, says recent testimony proved just the opposite and he added the state can't verify anything is destroyed.
Up until six months ago, when you went to renew your driver's license you had to show proof of ID like a birth certificate and electric bill. In December workers started scanning those documents. Whether some or all of those documents are sent to MorphoTrust remains in dispute.
All of this came to light over the past few weeks when gun owners going to renew their conceal carry permit were told the only way to get a new license was to have their information scanned.
In recent state hearings, officials with Missouri Highway Patrol admitted they sent the federal government 165,000 names of everyone in the state with a conceal carry permit. An agent with Social Security said he was conducting a criminal fraud investigation but said he destroyed the state data when he couldn't read it.
Sen. Schaefer said, "The sheer fact that this data was destroyed indicates this wasn't a criminal investigation but a fishing expedition to profile all conceal weapons holders in the state of Missouri." We asked, "Why Missouri? Do you know if they've gone after the same information in other states?"
Senator Schaefer said, "No, but I want to find out."
Amazingly, officials confirm a highway patrol staffer sent all of this private data on an encrypted disc by placing it in an envelope and sending it through the U.S. mail.
That is something Sen. Schaefer called "gross negligence."
In an effort to find the truth, members of the Senate Appropriations committee requested information from the Department of Revenue. DOR Sent over tens of thousands of documents in about 50 boxes.
It turns out the Department of Revenue was scanning records of everyone who had a conceal carry permit. That practice ended Tuesday when Governor Jay Nixon ordered it to stop.
But nothing has changed for people just trying to renew their driver's license.
DOR is sending your records to MorphoTrust USA. The company, which is owned by a French corporation, has a motto: To simplify, protect, and secure the lives of the American people.
When the company verifies your identity and issues your license your private information is supposed to be destroyed but according to Senator Schaefer, no one at the state level is verifying that.
"There is no one in the Department of Revenue responsible for making sure that happens. DOR said we know it's being destroyed. How? Somebody got a phone call," he said.
MorphoTrust's parent company is Safran, which specializes in retina scans and other forms of Identification. Many in Jefferson City want to know more about this company, how it operates, and proof that personal records of Missourians are being destroyed.
