St. Petersburg Times sues Kenneth City for names of accused red light runners
ST. PETERSBURG — The St. Petersburg Times on Thursday sued Kenneth City and the company that oversees the town's red light cameras for access to the names of people suspected of running red lights. [...]
Charles Territo, vice president of communication for ATS, said in an e-mailed statement: "As stated in our previous letter to the Times, we have concerns that the information requested by the paper would violate the Drivers Privacy Protection Act. We look forward to the courts clarifying whether or not we are legally allowed to release the names of violators."
This looks like a classic open records vs. privacy fight; Florida is one of many states where various laws specifically provide citizens with privacy rights beyond those implied within the open records statutes. DPPA is a federal law, PL 103-332.
The Florida page on DPPA; EPIC on DPPA. The text of DPPA from Access Reports. Relevant case law is Reno v Condon, 528 U.S. 141 (2000).
Thanks to Bruce Vielmetti for the tip.
