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Washington State Site Revealing Police Data Ruled OK

Posted by timothy on from the checks-and-balances dept.

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.)

3 of 33 comments (clear)

  1. Can't have it both ways... by Gunsmithy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even though being an officer of the law could mean a higher rate of targeting of abuse, public information like that should be available on everyone or noone.

    You just can't have it both ways.

    --
    Kids these days. They don't know the difference between classic, and just plain old.
    1. Re:Can't have it both ways... by ketan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I wouldn't be so quick to draw such a line. Cops are targets far more than the average citizen is. Chances are, if you are a victim of a crime, it's either random or committed by someone you know. Police officers, on the other hand, have hundreds of violent criminals who would like revenge on them. Being a cop is dangerous, but many are willing to take the risk for the greater good. But what if the risk extended to when they weren't in uniform? Or to their familes? Things like this would make it a lot harder to recruit police officers, that's for sure. I guess you feel differently, but I'm not so willing to dismiss this real danger. Or perhaps I'm misunderstanding you, and what you're advocating is uniform privacy, in which case I'm on board.

      --
      You have a choice: tax and spend Democrats, or borrow and spend Republicans. Choose wisely.
  2. Good & Bad by Clanner · · Score: 5, Insightful

    On the one hand, I have to agree with another poster in that being a law enforcement officer shouldn't grant you more privacy than an ordinary citizen. On the other hand, it's too bad that the law in question wasn't more specific, like just banning SSN's. We need some sort of protection from abuse of SSN's- they were never designed to be the universal ID number that they are now, and it's far too easy to commit identity theft with SSN's being relatively easy to acquire...

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    The dry fish swims alone.