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Washington State Site Revealing Police Data Ruled OK
gnarly writes "NYT reports that the courts have struck down a law which censored posting of personal data of police officers, (home phones, SSN, etc, obtained from public sources) on a single website." (The decision in this case took place in U.S. District Court in May.)
My mom works for the Department of Corrections in WA and I just quickly and easily found out the following: Institution with code, Job title, Salary range, Salary step code, and Monthly salary. The database appears very complete, but I can't think of much more use that it would have than checking out what coworkers make per month. Those that are in the database, however, supposedly had notice that the information was public (my mom did).
First, I'm not talking about SSNs and court records. I'll let a judge tackle those issues. I'm refering to the comentary the webmaster has added to the various pages, specifically the Kirkland PD (the only force I looked at in depth). Vicious stuff, although apparently just this side of actionable (or so the judgement would imply). I can see why Kirkland spent $200K spent trying to shut the site down (per the website). Free speech or not, it's an employer's duty to try to stand up for its people (just as its the judge's to protect the Constitution). Heck, I'd probably quit my job if my boss didn't take some action against a fullisade like this against his employees.
Three targets of note:
- Prosecutor Margita Dornay-Noe - Mostly links to stories and commentaries from Seattle newspapers about scandals around her. She appears to be facing disbarment and other stuff over (multiple?) sex scandals, but the big thing that creeps me out is the little piece of grafitti at the bottom of the page. It depicts (what appears to be) a nude woman's privates, a keyhole, and what look like prison bars in the background. Man, Freud would have a field day with that one.
- Phillip Goguen - No commentary, but some court filings, a map to the house, and a photo of his house (perhaps a real estate listing?). The photo also shows two vehicles and partial licence plates. Creepy.
- Gene M. Markle - The crown gem of the site. Not much in the public record. Just a bankruptcy (the webmaster appears suprised that can happen to someone making $60K/year - naive or just grasping at straws?). But then the webmaster puts up a map to the guy's house and starts on a rant: "He's as corrupt as any officer in the city of Kirkland. This [the website's] author will have no problem saying that Gene Markle is a filthy liar that just loves abusing others with his badge to serve his own purposes sociopathic purposes... I have suffered directly at the hands of this maggots [sic] criminal actions, which is certain he takes great pleasure for [sic]. The sad truth is that there is a woman (his wife Roberta) that will actually let him have sex with her and bare [sic] children. Just typing these words makes me want to spray my computer screen with Lysol. Clearly his wife is of questionable reputation."
The fact is, this webmaster's got an axe to grind. His site is hateful and bitter, even if it is protected as free speech. I'd be curious what is out in the public records about this guy (did Markle write him a ticket? Bust him for something heavy?), but if such a suggestion ever registered on his radar I'm sure he'd throw it back at me (that's "Embedded Geek," by the way - two D's when you start skulking around after me, Chuckles).I've gotta wonder about that last bit about his wife and kids with all the gramatical errors. If you read it fast, you can get the verbs messed up ("bare" or "bear"?) it seems to imply the officer is an incestous pedophile. Then again, I was expecting him to be hurling dirt from his tone, so I was primed for that sort of thing. Or perhaps it's my own filthy mind.
It just goes how little it takes to get the domain "justicefiles.org"
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."