Is Online Access to Public Databases Going Too Far?
Posted in Buyers + Consumers, Living With Information, Unassigned on August 24th, 2010
Online data resources have proliferated on the Internet over the past few years. As the public has become more accustomed to searching public records online, citizens have grown increasingly dubious about the value of those public records archives. In fact, there is now a slight trend developing that may lead to public records ethics courses and treatises at institutions of higher learning. Just how much access is too much access to public records?
Advocates of the free dissemination of public records are quick to point out that the public in general has a right to know as well as a need to know what is in the public databases. But privacy advocates warn that public records search may unnecessarily expose individuals to risks they did not intend. It is entirely possible that public records search assists stalkers in identifying and locating their potential victims.
These concerns are piling up and an increasing number of resources are addressing the need for ethics in public records search. But the issues are far more complex than a small collection of opinions and half-conceived policies. We are still experimenting with tentative steps toward building a solid ethical foundation in the distribution and use of public information.
When the citizens pay for public records databases, the governments that create and maintain those databases must either divulge what the databases store or justify in a reasonable manner the need for secrecy. For example, it is generally assumed that the Federal government’s investigative bodies have capabilities that exceed what the Internet provides to the common user. Perhaps the Internet has helped the average citizen encroach upon Federal prerogatives over the years, but there are still some very sophisticated systems running behind closed government doors that (it is assumed) are operating in the interest of protecting the public.
So although we don’t know everything that is known about us, we do know there are safeguards and protections in place. The public debate about public records will inevitably gravitate toward the right use of public information and how that correct usage must evolve in an ever-changing world.