Herbert Administration Plays Free and Lose with Citizens' Personal Identifying Information

Throughout his entire term of office, Utah Governor Gary Herbert and his administration have demonstrated a callous disregard for the personal identifying information of millions of Utahns.   

The Utah Driver License Division routinely provides the personal identifying information of millions of Utahns to non-governmental entities.  This is often done in violation of Utah law.  Once the records are released, the records are no longer protected by the state and are subject to misuse, improper handling and massive data breeches.  The personal identifying information released by the Driver License Division includes everything required to assume a person's identity:  Name, address, social security number, date of birth, place of birth, mother's maiden names and physical characteristics.

In addition, Governor Herbert and his administration continue to sell the voter registration records of roughly 1.5 million Utahn’s--after removing his personal records and those of his family and associates.  The records of everyone else are then posted to the internet here and here. 

Furthermore, the Herbert administration refuses to aggressively protect tens of thousands of innocent Utah children who are the victims of job-related identity theft.

If that were not enough, the Herbert administration allowed the release of 280,000 Social Security numbers and other less sensitive personal identifying information of an additional 500,000 Utahns from state Medicaid and CHIP records (March 2012).

In spite of this, the Governor is not held accountable for his failure to protect the personal identifying information of those he was elected to serve and protect.

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Releases of personal information under the Herbert administration since 2010 include the following:

·         Continuously.  The Utah Driver License Division routinely provides the personal identifying information of millions of Utahns to non-governmental entities.  This is often done in violation of Utah law.  The personal identifying information released by the Driver License Division includes everything required to assume a person's identity:  Name, address, social security number, date of birth, place of birth, mother's maiden names and physical characteristics.

·         Continuously. The state of Utah sells the Utah Voter Data base with the personal information of 1.5 million Utah voters to anyone willing to pay $1,050. Information sold includes a registered voter’s name, address, phone number, voter registration number, party affiliation, voting history, etc.  Financial institutions, health care providers, insurance companies, political parties, candidates and other select groups or their agents may obtain voter lists that contain all of the previous information plus the registered voters’ full birth date (month/day/year).

·         July 2010. A list containing the personal information of 1,300 people believed to be illegal aliens was released by Utah Workforce Service employees. "Release of such private, sensitive information is deplorable," Gov. Gary Herbert said in a news release according to CNN.

·         March 30, 2012. An estimated 780,000 Utahns covered by Medicaid or thought to be eligible for Medicaid along with those enrolled in the Children's Health Insurance Plan had personal information stolen by hackers in Eastern Europe who were able to access the Utah Department of Technology Service's server. Information taken included names, dates of birth, addresses, Social Security numbers, etc. Herbert was quoted by the Salt Lake Tribune as saying: "As a state government we have failed to honor that commitment [to protect Utah families and their personal data]," he said. "For that, as your governor and as a Utahn, I am deeply sorry." In spite of this, Herbert continued to support the sale of the voter data base, minus his personal information, even though it had most of the same information on it.

·         January 2013. The Utah Health Department revealed that a USB memory stick with 6,000 Medicaid recipients’ protected health information (PHI) was reported lost by a third party contractor.

·         December 6, 2013. Up to 97,000 Utahns receiving training funds, unemployment insurance and payroll from Utah’s Workforce Services may have had their personal information compromised due to a data breach. The compromised data includes names, addresses, Social Security numbers, UCard numbers, passwords, logins and security questions.

·         March 31, 2016 Governor Herbert's campaign was accused of complicity in the release and subsequent posting of  Jonathan Johnson's personal identifying information to the internet--Johnson was opposing Herbert for the Republican Party's gubernatorial nomination.  This was consistent with Governor Herbert’s long history of total disdain for the personal information of Utah citizens—except for himself, his family and his cronies’.   

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