Government Greed

Chalk another one up to the State of Florida (or, as Bj so rightly calls it, the nation's sore thumb). My driver's license is up for renewal. This year, the reminder says, I can renew on the Internet. But when I tried to start the process from home using Mac OS X, I get security errors — something about the site's security certificate not matching the domain. I'm going to be sending credit card information to complete this transaction, so I'm not about to just "OK" a bad security certificate. I tried it in Internet Explorer, OmniWeb, Chimera, and even Apple's new Safari. (Note to the webgnoscenti: I lost Netscape and Mozilla in the Great Hard Drive Crash of last June, and haven't re-installed them yet.) All gave the same error.

On a hunch, I brought the renewal notice to work this morning to try it on Windows IE 6. Ah, a different error message: some items on the page are not secure, should I load the non-secure items? Answer: NO. Now the page loads, without the column of advertising down the right-hand side of the page. Seems the string of paid ads are loaded from a different server, causing the security errors. (ALT tags imply they are ads for eBay, cellular phone service, and the like.) So I was able to complete my transaction, AND not have to look at advertising graphics, and I should have my renewal sticker within seven days.

Best revenge? The confirmation page had a link to the form where you can request that your personal information (driver / motor vehicle record) not be sold. (Again, only in Florida.) Not only did I not see the actual paid advertising while giving the state an extra $3 for the privellege of renewing online, but I can prevent them from making money by selling off my information. The form is here, although it is a print-and-mail-in form. I think it's worth the time, YMMV.