Another, Yes Another, California DOJ Data Breach and Privacy Violation

California DOJ’s “assault weapon” registration system has been plagued with problems, but perhaps the worst yet is its improper disclosing of personal information to other registrants. That is right, CRPA has confirmed reports that individuals using the registration system were improperly given access to the registration information of other gun owners.

In at least some cases, the DOJ’s system allowed users to see all of the personal information (including home address, telephone number, email, and Driver’s License number) for other users and all the information that user had submitted for registering their firearms as “assault weapons”—including the firearms make/model/serial number and all of the photos and attachments to the user’s registration application.

This isn’t the first time CA DOJ has improperly disclosed the personal information of California gun owners. In 2016, CA DOJ admitted to releasing the name, date of birth, and California Driver’s License and/or Identification Card numbers of FSC instructors to a reporter for Southern California Public Radio. In response to that disclosure, CA DOJ offered a one-year membership of Experian’s® ProtectMyID® Alert. Whether CA DOJ will do the same for this invasion of privacy remains to be seen.