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Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of culture, technology, politics, and law. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.
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 --- 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. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------