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Jeb Bush Publishes Thousands of Citizens' Email Addresses

Posted by timothy on from the public-records-now dept.

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.

19 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. Oops! by riverat1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not a good start.

    1. Re:Oops! by lgw · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Jeb is very much the GOP "establishment" candidate, loved by those already in power and almost no one else (though I though he was great as governor of Florida, especially in the 4-hurricaine year, I think he's completely the wrong guy for president). The conservative base isn't rooting for Jeb, to be sure.

      At the national level, few on the right really care that much about social issues right now, unless you want to consider "immigration" a social issue. Foreign policy, economic growth, and government spending are the focus, and Jeb brings nothing to that except "same old same old" (which of course is why the existing GOP power structure loves him).

      Scot Walker is the current guy the right is rooting for, or "Mr Scott" as the NYT recently called him (they don't even know his name, but they're against him!), though we've yet to hear much from him on foreign policy and it's early yet.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    2. Re:Oops! by jriding · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I am not a fan of the current republicans but I don't see how this is a bad thing. He is in public office. Any communication involving his position should be available by FOIA. So how is this bad again?

      At least we can see when he says "hey shut down that bridge in NJ" or "I will let you write the law and I will say I wrote it if you pay me $25,000"

      --
      love the taste, hate the texture
    3. Re:Oops! by lgw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.
    4. Re:Oops! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    5. Re:Oops! by Nethead · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.
    6. Re:Oops! by jordanjay29 · · Score: 3, Funny

      The ability to win elections is not an indication of whether a candidate is a good fit for her/his constituents. See also: Michelle Bachmann.

    7. Re:Oops! by cavreader · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The problem is that the people with the skill set needed to be a good President never run or get anywhere near politics. Being a US President is a nightmare of a job. Non-stop 24/7 scrutiny and shrill demands from both foes and friends. Unrealistic expectations and never ending criticism over every decision or statement made. The most critical part of being a good President is choosing the right inner circle policy advisers. These advisers are selected with very little or no legislative review process and they are the ones the President relies on to provide the information need to make wise decisions. These advisers have an enormous amount of influence on the President. Obama has been poorly served by his advisers. He ended up with to many relatively inexperienced idealists who have made the President look hesitant and indecisive on just about every major decision made.

    8. Re:Oops! by cptdondo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

  2. not to defend this but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you're sending an email to the government and expect it not to be subject to foia, maybe you should think again.

    This disclosure appears in his signature on most of the messages I looked at...

    Please note: Florida has a very broad public records law.
    Most written communications to or from state officials
    regarding state business are public records available to the
    public and media upon request. Your e-mail communications
    may therefore be subject to public disclosure.

    1. Re:not to defend this but... by dwywit · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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
  3. It Get's Worse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Update in the article:

    The Verge has uncovered emails that contain Social Security numbers, home addresses, and other personal information from Floridians.

  4. Re:Testing to see if slashdot is really working by Soulskill · · Score: 4, Informative

    We were in read-only mode most of the day while some server issues were fixed. Sorry for the downtime!

  5. Re:Testing to see if slashdot is really working by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    You ruined my workday. I had nothing to do but *shudder* work all day.

  6. Re:Holy shit is it over already? Isn't this ILLEGA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's Florida. All metadata is automatically considered public record, and contents are also public record if they bear on a state official's duties. Jeb was a state official (governor), so his e-mails are all automatically public record.

    It's not a mistake, and it's not illegal: in Florida, public officials have no privacy on anything that pertains to their job. Every state official's salary, from the janitors' to the governor's, is listed in a giant, public-facing database, searchable by employee name. Colleges have a separate excel sheet, with salaries listed by name. The stuff you think people would want to keep quiet: in Florida, it's public. It's called the Sunshine Law.

    Governor's e-mails? Of course that shit's public.

  7. It Get's Worse by jordanjay29 · · Score: 3, Funny

    The small blessing is that most of the senior citizens in Florida probably have already given this information to scammers in Asia.

  8. Thousands? Really? by damn_registrars · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I didn't expect there would be thousands of Floridians who were smart enough to know how to use email yet interested in contacting Jeb. Are we sure they aren't thousands of throwaway email addresses used by just a few people?

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  9. Re:what's the problem? by NostalgiaForInfinity · · Score: 3, Insightful

    First off, jeb@jeb.org isn't a government domain.

    Doesn't matter if he is using it in an official capacity. Public records laws apply to all official communications.

    Second, an SSN is usually considered PII and should not be released to anyone.

    Public records laws do not automatically exempt PII; they would be rather useless if they did.

    Third, I wonder if any of those e-mails had the standard legalish boilerplate signature saying the e-mail is intended for the recipient only.

    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.

  10. Where do SSN's come into this? by Latent+Heat · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So I e-mail the guv of Florida. Why am I disclosing my SSN in that e-mail? Is this required? Is Jeb Bush matching people e-mailing him against a database and revealing SSN's that way?