The recent publishing of the names and addresses of gun permit holders in New York by a newspaper is probably one of the dumbest things I've ever seen by anyone to promote an agenda. There is no useful purpose for this information to anyone but criminals. Now that the public knows, how can they use this information. If they are anti-gun, will they shun the permit holders or attack them? This disclosure has endangered many on that list: law enforcement, prosecutors, judges and others and also provided locations from which criminals can steal guns. This newspaper has shot itself in the foot, because of the anger fomented by this action, they have had to hire armed protection for their paper.
There have been numerous cases of unnecessary or harmful exposure of information which is considered "public" which should be classified as "personal" or "private". Just because there are requirements for citizens to supply information to government bodies in order to engage in certain activities, does not mean that everyone should have access to what is really personal, private information. This is one of those cases. Private financial information, such as income tax returns, although supplied to a government agency and therefore "public", are classified as "private". If an exception can be made here, it can be made for others.
Another instance of private information, held in government custody, which is accessible to any person for any reason, are certain financial transactions which must be registered, usually at the county level. Unless there is some compelling reason to allow access to this information, access for this and credit reporting companies, should be granted only with the permission of the individual. Another case is a favor to political parties. Voter registration lists by party naturally reveal the person's party affiliation. Some people, for reasons of their own, may not want to reveal that publicly and if the principle of a secret ballot has meaning, secret party affiliation is just as valid. A voter ID, indicating party affiliation, could be used for primary election voting, or, as in some states, primaries could be "open".
There have been numerous cases of unnecessary or harmful exposure of information which is considered "public" which should be classified as "personal" or "private". Just because there are requirements for citizens to supply information to government bodies in order to engage in certain activities, does not mean that everyone should have access to what is really personal, private information. This is one of those cases. Private financial information, such as income tax returns, although supplied to a government agency and therefore "public", are classified as "private". If an exception can be made here, it can be made for others.
Another instance of private information, held in government custody, which is accessible to any person for any reason, are certain financial transactions which must be registered, usually at the county level. Unless there is some compelling reason to allow access to this information, access for this and credit reporting companies, should be granted only with the permission of the individual. Another case is a favor to political parties. Voter registration lists by party naturally reveal the person's party affiliation. Some people, for reasons of their own, may not want to reveal that publicly and if the principle of a secret ballot has meaning, secret party affiliation is just as valid. A voter ID, indicating party affiliation, could be used for primary election voting, or, as in some states, primaries could be "open".
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