Slashdot Mirror
Jeb Bush Publishes Thousands of Citizens' Email Addresses
blottsie writes Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush hasn't even yet formally declared his desire to run for president in 2016, but he's already started what appears to be a major privacy blunder. His new project, the Jeb Emails, a massive, open database of correspondence to and from his jeb@jeb.org email address, publishes the full names, messages, and email addresses of his constituents who emailed him during his eight years in office.
How exactly the fuck does someone "at this level" make this kind of mistake? This is almost like his brother's $5 million dollar email archival system...
I'm not sure that the email addresses, SSN, and other personal information of his constituent citizens should be publicized. Names, fine, cities of residence, okay, but that's about it. Yes, you can still identify the person (and that should be the point from a FOIA standpoint) but it won't easily translate into harassment, identity theft, or other nasty things that people can do from halfway around the world.
Didn't the article state that it was email sent to jeb@jeb.org ?
Doesn't look like a government domain. Admittedly, he's a very public figure, but he took the step of establishing a non-government domain for these emails. Perhaps you should look at the privacy policy of jeb.org to establish whether publishing contact details is OK or not.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
Ah, but I'm guessing you're a Democrat anyhow?
The conservative base has grown quite tired of "establishment candidates" that are inoffensive to the Democratic base, or the mainstream media (but I repeat myself). This is primary season, and for once I have a bit of hope that we'll get a conservative candidate who's fiscally conservative, instead of someone who pleases the current crop DC lobbyists and pork-senders. Walker has proven that he's willing to ignore 100% negative media coverage and do what he sees as right, when it comes to cutting spending. A shocking idea for a national candidate, I know, but the right-wing base understands that any possible GOP candidate will get 100% negative media coverage, regardless of actual views, so it's about time we get someone who isn't trying to please the press, and is instead trying to govern effectively.
Obviously, if you favor government spending and increased federal power, you'll hate Walker, but it's about damn time we as a nation had a chance to vote on that basis, rather than choose between the 2 big spenders who differ only on social issues.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
LOL, Walker doesn't know anything about foreign policy so he'll have to make up some positions quick!
Every governor will have this problem. Senators can bring some foreign policy experience, but typically have no experience as an executive, and tend to not be good at getting things done (plus good luck finding one who's credible as a fiscal conservative without "Paul" in his name).
I think a GOP candidate can do fine as long as he has some clear positions he can explain on foreign policy issues, even if he stumbles on ambush questions about east Elbonia. There's don't seem to be any Dem candidates on deck who will be credible on foreign policy anyhow, but then of course it's still early in primary season, and we likely haven't seen all the contenders yet on ether side.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
I don't know anything about Jeb Bush. But I certainly won't be voting for him now. If he cannot be trusted to keep confidential correspondence, including Social Security numbers, confidential, then he lacks some basic values that I regard as essential in a President. Or in anyone filling just about any other elected office.
Will
Show me a Republican who doesn't spend, spend, spend and I'll show you a unicorn. Oh you mean *this* time they really mean it? GOP voters have Stockholm syndrome. Not only does the GOP spend, the reasoning they give for cutting spending is all wrong. You don't run a business like a household and you certainly don't run a nation like one. That's a line for fools.
Spending actually boosts the economy, not that the GOP voters would know any better. Spend when depressed, raise taxes during the boom. If you are business and your sales are down, you spend on advertising, R&D or whatever it takes to get income up. You certainly don't spend less. I mean you could, but you won't be around for long.
Besides, why do you think China is such a powerhouse? The government subsidizes it's industry, among other things. It's certainly not because they're laissez faire.
Where do I stand? Until things get better, I'm voting out the incumbent in every seat, in every election.
So the assumed front runner for the Democrats isn't credible when speaking about foreign policy? Not saying she's the best for the job, and you may not agree with her policy ideas, but her being a First Lady, a Senator, and a Secretary of State, you have to give her some foreign policy chops. Much more than any state governor may have.
I will give Jeb some chops just for hanging with dad and W, but not much.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
Doesn't matter if he is using it in an official capacity. Public records laws apply to all official communications.
Public records laws do not automatically exempt PII; they would be rather useless if they did.
Again, you can't circumvent public records rules by adding legalese to your letters. It too would make public records laws rather useless.
Mind you, I think Bush acted stupidly and may have well have violated privacy laws with the release of some of the E-mails. But in general, a lot of communications you send, whether E-mail or paper, are subject to public records laws and discovery in court cases.
It this were FOIA, I'd defend you. But no, it's not. It's about Jeb releasing mails to Jeb.
"Mails to Jeb released in response to FOIA" is a FUCKTON different from "Jeb releases everything for apparently no real reason."
FOIA has a protocol to classify or hide information as appropriate. Jeb does not have such a protocol.
Your idiotic post said that Jeb = FOIA, and you should be kicked in the gender-specific gonads or, lacking those, appropriately burned in strategic places for suggesting such.
FOIA is a risk that people who communicate with their elected, or otherwise, official, take. Jeb deciding to repeat everything, verbatim, available to spammers and citizen vigilantes, without any relevant FOIA request, is a completely different thing. It's a completely different fucking ballpark.
That's called trickle down, and it has never, ever worked. Not once. If it did, we would be swimming in jobs. Heck, we'd be drowning in jobs.
Canada has much higher taxes than the US, and they also have a wealthier middle class, much more vacation time, better benefits, public health care, a year's parental leave, all those things that are supposed to crush the economy.
Guess what - the Canadian middle class is better off than the American middle class. But keep dreaming that you can cut and starve your way to health.