Virginia and D.C. drivers whose driver’s licenses displayed their Social Security numbers will find those numbers and other personal information posted on a Maryland Web site if they received traffic tickets in the state.
Traffic citations are listed in Maryland’s court records, which the state makes publicly accessible online.
The traffic citation records show a person’s full name, address, sex, height, weight, birth date and driver’s license number, which is sometimes the same as his or her Social Security number — information that is hunted by identity thieves.
A quick search for a popular name on the state’s Judiciary Case Search Web site will instantly pull up thousands of records spanning more than 30 years. Maryland has never used Social Security numbers when issuing driver’s licenses, but Virginia and the District have.
Virginia ended the practice in July 2003, although drivers were able to keep their old licenses until they expired, which in some cases was not until this year, Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Melanie Stokes said.
The District began offering drivers the option of having random numbers on their driver’s license instead of their Social Security numbers in 2001, a D.C. DMV spokeswoman said.
The city stopped issuing licenses with Social Security numbers on them altogether after federal regulations prohibited it in 2004.
But Maryland’s court records date back decades, and drivers from D.C., Virginia or any state that once used Social Security numbers on licenses will find their Social Security numbers online today if they received Maryland tickets during that time.
A spokesman for the Maryland courts system was not immediately able to determine whether the number could be removed from the public record at the person’s request.
People who find their Social Security numbers listed on the Web site can place a fraud alert with one of the three major credit bureaus at no charge, said Tami Nealy, communications director for LifeLock.
