Betty Ostergren, a privacy advocate that posts Social Security numbers she found on the Internet, has been given the thumbs up by a federal judge in Virginia. Computerworld reports that the state government can not stop her from posting the Social Security numbers on her website. At first glance, this privacy issue should enrage a lot of people. Knowing she has your personal information and is posting it all over the Internet would upset a lot of people; but how did she find this information in the first place? She got the information from the Internet and public records. The privacy advocate did this as a lesson, and to start a campaign to show people just how easy it is to find sensitive information about them.
She won the case and it was ruled that she should not have to remove the Social Security numbers from her site since she legally obtained them from public records. While the memorandum does not set a precedent, it is the first step in truly realizing how much we take our Internet privacy for granted. Ostergren's website, The Virginia Watchdog, presents privacy issues that arise from the government posting personal information on websites. Over the past few years she has repeatedly shown that Social Security numbers have been posted and little has been done to protect personal information.
I can agree with what she is doing. She did not seek out the information from private sources or use illegal methods, she used the Internet and the public sector. Everything she found was attained from government documents that did not conceal the ultra-sensitive information. With the already astonishing number of identity thefts every year, I don't see how the government posting such private information can help. How about a permanent marker and two seconds to hide the information? Problem solved... Ms. Ostergren also posts the information of high-profile officials, such as former Gov. Jeb Bush, former U.S. Secretary Colin Powell, and some local Virginia officials. I guess it really strikes a nerve and makes them care when their information is up there, and not just the information of the huddled masses.
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