In my former work life, I was a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) officer for a locality. I think it is amazing that we can get information we need from the government (for the most part) or at least have the ability to sue for that information.
But where is the line drawn between what is public and what is private?
Social security numbers, health records, even your library records are not open to the public (at least here in Virginia). But you know what is:
The real estate you own
Your salary (if you are a government employee)
If you have a conceal carry permit
How is this information used by the average Joe?
When moving to different homes, I was able to use GIS to click on all the homes surrounding the one I am moving to. I can see who lives there, what they paid for their home, how long they have owned the home, and more. I can then cross-reference their names with open state court records or sex offender records. Or in the case of one of my neighbors, find out he was disbarred.
I have used the salary information when I have applied for jobs to see how much the person I would replace made or how much to expect in that position. I also saw how much my coworkers made and sometimes got a little pissed off.
The conceal carry open data created an issue for a local reporter a few years back. Although that information was open to the public, he made a point of creating a database listing everyone with a conceal carry permit and their address. In one case, a woman had to move because she had a conceal carry to protect her from a violent ex. Now he knew where she lived if he read that story.
“Reason Magazine” did a cover back in 2004 that had the subscriber’s name on the cover with “They Know Where You Are” and an aerial photo of that subscriber’s home. Then editor Nick Gillespie explained how easy it is to find anyone’s data online. Many of us want convenience and give up our information easily to companies. And that information gets sold to others.
Although not the US, Scott Stratton and his wife were gifted a Peloton from a friend. When they received mail with that friend’s name, but their address on it, they opened the mail only to find porn. You can do a search for the article, but I am not linking to it here due to images. Their information was sold.
So my question is, where do we draw the line between open data, making that data easily accessible, and privacy?
I really don’t know the answer to that. I love data, looking at data graphs, looking up real estate, seeing trends, but I also don’t love the fact that anyone can find information about me. Heck, I worked with police and you can easily find where they live by a GIS search. I believe that is how a man got the address of an officer I know and attacked his wife while she was at home.
For the sake of multiple FOIA requests, it makes sense to put that information online so as to not burden governments with multiple FOIA requests that someone could just easily get on their own.
What do you think about open data?
Lisa Sedlak 