It's evil if both/either were to collect more information then is necessary and sell it to 3rd parties for analytics.
The DMV in some states have started to sell people's data, that's fucked.
The DMV in some states have started to sell people's data, that's fucked.
Having the government (that also controls the police, the military etc) collect & analyze large amounts of data on citizens is a recipe for disaster even if they never sell that data to a third party. I hear people say "but we can write laws that they cannot use that data for anything nefarious" and I'm amazed that there are still people alive that believe that laws have ever stopped a government.
I'm fine with "let's limit the amount of data corporations can collect on citizens", but I'm really not fine with "let's allow the state to collect any data on citizens other than absolutely necessary to provide basic services, at least they don't sell it".
It’s good in that it’s the government providing transparency into the records they hold, and allowing them to be corrected. It’s bad in that it’s a big treasure trove of data for companies or individuals who want to mis-use it.
https://www.wyff4.com/article/the-dmv-sells-your-information...
Like most government spending, I'm sure it's excessive. However, I'm not clear what your counter-point was. Yes, producing a CSV costs less than $42M. No, producing a CSV file is not what this service entails.
If I could edit my comment, I might say something more accurate, like "trying to evaluate this number without more context is not useful."