State Farm Sues To Recover ZIP Code Data.(Brief Article)

National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, January, 2000 by MAURICE, ALEX

State Farm has sued consumer activist Birny Birnbaum, demanding that he return California ZIP code data that was released under the state's freedom of information law. The lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court in San Francisco, reportedly seeks the return of the ZIP code data, which includes policy information and agency locations, and also seeks the names of any persons or organizations to which Mr.

Birnbaum disseminated the data. (Mr. Birnbaum provided a copy of the data to National Underwriter.) State Farm claims that the data contains trade secrets. The California Department of Insurance, after consulting with the insurer, agreed and requested that Mr. Birnbaum return the data and all copies. A consumer advocacy group, however, said that Mr....