FC: Washington state senate moves to ban publishing info on police

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Lawyers for the city of Kirkland threaten Politech:
http://www.politechbot.com/kirkland/

Background on Kirkland suing JusticeFiles.org:
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=kirkland

-Declan

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134402876_privacy11m.html

Monday, February 11, 2002

Measure would give police more privacy on Web

By Michael Ko
Seattle Times staff reporter

A Web site that gives personal information on hundreds of police officers
and is already the subject of a lawsuit pitting the First Amendment against
personal privacy now is the target of legislation aimed at shutting it down.

The bill, which passed out of the state Senate Judiciary Committee on
Thursday, would allow a judge to shut down any source that sells, lists or
distributes the home phone numbers, home addresses, birthdates or Social
Security numbers of police officers or court employees and shows "an intent
to harm or intimidate."

Those named could seek damages in civil court.

"Police officers are in some pretty difficult situations, (and) to have
their professional business spill over into their personal lives, it's
terrible," said state Sen. Bill Finkbeiner, R-Kirkland, the primary sponsor.
"You don't have a First Amendment right to harass and intimidate."

Finkbeiner said the legislation was prompted by a Web site created last year
by Bill Sheehan and Aaron Rosenstein, two local network engineers. The site
posted rosters of 16 local law-enforcement agencies, along with salaries,
addresses, phone numbers and, in some cases, Social Security numbers.

Sheehan and Rosenstein said they wanted to hold police accountable,
contending that departments were secretive and inaccessible. Officers were
furious and said the site could lead to harassment, identity theft or worse.

[...]



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