Identity Theft Ostergren v. McDonnell Privacy Social Security Numbers
Privacy Watchdog Receives Broad Protection for Publishing Public Records
A federal judge has issued a final order in favor of privacy advocate Betty Ostergren, who challenged a state law designed to prosecute her for drawing attention to the state's poor security practices. Ostegren had posted public records on her website that included Social Security Numbers made available by the state of Virginia. A district court held that Virginia may not prosecute her for re-publishing the Social Security Numbers of state officials. On appeal, a federal appeals court ruled that the court’s holding was too limited, and on remand the court said that Ostergren can re-publish any publicly available documents. EPIC filed a "friend of the court" brief in support of Ostergen, urging the court to hold that the First Amendment protects Ostergren's speech. For more information, see EPIC: Ostergren v. McDonnell, EPIC: Social Security Numbers, and EPIC: Identity Theft.
April 15, 2011| Share:
