Access

[Aki Namioka]

Well the article was being critical of agencies who were not putting their
information on-line.  That was what I was refering to.  Congressional
votes and court decisions are fine with me.  But they are two very
different issues that the editorial was trying to blur together.

On Thu, 5 Aug 1999, Joe Mabel wrote:

> 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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> 

Thanks,
Aki Helen Namioka
aki at cpsr.org

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