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Privacy - what happened to it?

Saturday, July 12, 2003

Bill Sheehan publishing Police officer addresses, SSN, …

I guess there's nothing wrong with selling out in order to fund the next project - somebody's gotta foot the bills ... Had a quick look at Drudge and noticed the headline:

WEB SITE POOLING PUBLIC DATA ON POLICE OFFICERS STIRS DEBATE...

Of course that's of interest to me because I also publish public data:

5/20/03 - Innovis officers' home addresses and SSNs are public record

The NY Times article:

A Web Site Causes Unease in Police

It starts with "William Sheehan" and I haven't heard THAT name in a while.

This has to be the guy who had a huge fight with credit bureaus years ago. Somewhere I read that he settled and took the site down.

I had no idea that he's now publishing police officers' personal info because he apparently had some problems with police.

So I did some searching, the only thing I found looking for "William Sheehan, credit, Equifax" was a pleading relating to his recent case in Washington State:

DECLARATION OF WILLIAM SHEEHAN IN SUPPORT OF SHEEHAN’S RESPONSE TO MOTION FOR INJUNCTION

This motion was filed in 2001, and Sheehan got the WA law prohibiting his publications overturned. Truly an accomplishment!

Of course being big on privacy myself, I really don't think ANYONE's data should be collected, published or SOLD.

On the other hand, I have heard about everything from extortion to child molestation by law enforcement. Last year several officers were convicted of running a prostitution ring in a nearby "town" and just a few days ago somebody wrote that a Sheriff was participating in Wells Fargo fraud.

Still, I think it's a little low picking on cops and their families. I'll be more selective and try to stick with people in management and preferably executives and politicians who could make a difference.

I did a search at the his site and found:

ORDER ON EXPERIAN'S MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION, PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO VACATE TRO, AND EXPERIAN'S MOTION FOR FINDING OF CONTEMPT

"Plaintiff has stated that the purpose of his web site is to hold the credit companies "accountable." He argues that the addresses and telephone numbers would make it easier for others aggrieved by credit reports to serve process. With regard to one attorney, he has printed the words, in quotation marks, "please medicate these guys!" But the web site has not suggested that readers take any specific action, or that they put the information to any particular use. There is no showing that lawless action was either asked for or imminent. In fact, information of this nature has been available on plaintiff's web site since early 1997, and there is no evidence that anyone has ever been harassed, approached, or contacted by a person who viewed the site."

http://billsheehan.com is the site referred to, now "under construction."

This sure is very interesting.

I'm wondering how much Experian and/or the other CRAs paid Sheehan to take down his credit site.

I guess there's nothing wrong with selling out in order to fund the next project - somebody's gotta foot the bills ...