Eric Litke reports that a Wisconsin judge has ruled that Wisconsin agencies cannot redact names and personal information from responses to public records requests – something they had started doing in the wake of the Senne v. Palatine ruling. Senne v. Palatine involved public disclosure of personal information on a ticket and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA). Previous coverage of that case on this blog is linked from here. Litke reports:
The Palatine case sparked a class action suit seeking $80 million, and municipal insurers, fearing similar reprisal, began telling law enforcement to redact names from police reports because they included data that touched the DMV database, even if it didn’t originate there.
But Cameron disagreed, ruling that responding to records requests in compliance with state law “is an official act of the city” and therefore falls under the official duties exception to the driver privacy act.
Read more on FDLreporter.com.