Access
Joe Mabel
jmabel at saltmine.com
Thu Aug 5 10:54:45 PDT 1999
Yeah, but Supreme Court decisions? Congressional votes?
-----Original Message-----
From: Aki Namioka [SMTP:aki at halcyon.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 05, 1999 9:25 AM
To: Steve
Cc: scn at scn.org
Subject: Re: Access
I know exactly why most agencies don't put their information on the web -
there are huge privacy issues and fear of inapprorpiate information
getting out of control. Its a mess and hard to deal with. Government
agencies do not store, maintain, nor safeguard information for public
consumption. Most of their databases were created to do government
business - allowing public access was not in the original spec. There are
also flaws in laws that dictate what is public information - for example,
in Washington State - your birth certificate is public information.
Anybody in theory should be able to get a copy. Do you want this
information made public for all to see? I don't. Even though this
information is "public" the State will not issue a copy of the certificate
unless they are somewhat confident that you have a "right" to that
information (e.g. you are the individual or close relative). They are
probably not going to put birth records on the internet in the near term.
There are a gazillion cases like this in government data stores - unless
there are better laws protecting personal privacy and defining public
information I like the fact that government agencies are conservative with
their information - they are at least taking stewardship a little more
seriously.
Thanks,
Aki Helen Namioka
aki at cpsr.org
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