Computerworld reported that an upset Arkansas man has posted sensitive information on his website, PulaskiWatch. The information was found via public records and consisted of e-mails between nine government officials, including the county clerk. This privacy issue may seem a little familiar as the Virginia Watchdog (which, coincidentally, does not seem to be working) also posted sensitive information on government officials in Virginia.
Bill Phillips, the creator of PulaskiWatch, did this to prove a point to the county officials who had posted circuit court records containing Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, and images of voided checks. Phillips' retaliation consisted of searching thousands of e-mails, mostly with office-related communications, on the Internet and posting his findings. Some of the e-mails that Computerworld had access to discussed sensitive topics, such as: appropriate salaries for two recently demoted employees, and a woman who had quit because of safety concerns (there was a stranger roaming the parking lot). Phillips also posted every county clerk employee's name, date of hire, and salary. He focuses his retaliation on the county officials and does not seem to be posting the sensitive information. Having them on the Pulaski County site once is already bad enough. And by the way, students working on the elections will be making $7.50 an hour. Yes, I did find that in one of the e-mails.
While this may seem like an invasion of privacy, and limits a person's privacy rights, the important thing to notice is that both Pulaski Watch and Virginia Watchdog had found their information publicly. They did not have to buy records from a secretary or bribe a judge like in The Sopranos. All they had to do was search their local county government website and perhaps even Googling someone's name. Phillips has agreed to remove all the sensitive, yet legal and public, documents from his website on the condition that County Clerk Pat O'Brien removes the documents with sensitive information. It seems like a fair trade off to me. Your private e-mails will be removed once the residents all have their personal information removed, and hopefully identity theft won't be on the rise in Pulaski County.
The county has already faced this issue once, when it was forced to remove personal information from real estate records. O'Brien stated he won't remove the court records, and even if he wanted to only the Arkansas Supreme Court can give instructions on blocking out Social Security numbers. O'Brien said he would remove the records, but the software used for real estate records can't be used on court records. Too bad, so sad Pulaski County..
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