The Virginia Department of Transportation failed to keep records of the Smart Tag information it hands over to police, the department recently confirmed.

And while the department said in a privacy disclaimer on its Smart Tag Web site that customer information might be given to law-enforcement agencies, the application and customer-agreement forms did not mention that fact, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

Through its Smart Tag system, VDOT collects customers' names, signatures, addresses, home and work phone numbers, e-mail addresses, credit-card numbers, and the names of additional authorized users.

On customer vehicles, the agency holds license-plate numbers, make, model, year, color and number of axles.

VDOT said it would tighten its policies to ensure better privacy for customers.

Keeping records of police requests "certainly would be a part of improved, standardized written procedure," said Deborah Brown, whose office oversees the state's electronic toll-collection system. "We'll retain a log of that information."

VDOT has not required independent verification of identity when it has released Smart Tag information to law-enforcement officers making telephone requests for records.

It also did not have a written policy governing releasing information on customers' Smart Tag use.

"We're developing written procedures to provide better guidance in those instances where we have to cooperate with law-enforcement," Brown said.

Though the department says police requests for Smart Tag information are few, the toll system and its records raise profound questions about government intrusion in personal matters, experts said.

"It's not just an automatic toll-collection system," said Philip E. Agre, a computer scientist and assistant professor of information studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. "It's a driver-tracker system."

Robert O'Neil, founding director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Protection of Free Speech, said VDOT's Smart Tag information policy should:

" specify the information that needs to be collected;
" define who will have access to it;
" outline the conditions under which they will have that access;
" establish procedures to follow in releasing information, including verifying the identity of officials asking for it and logging its release;
" warn applicants of the consequences of signing up for the electronic toll-collection system.