You are viewing an archived webpage. The information on this page may be out of date. Learn about EPIC's recent work at epic.org.

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.


« In Court Filing, EPIC Argues Residential Wi-Fi Routers are Not Exempted Under Federal Wiretap Laws | Main | White House Releases Plan for Internet Identities »

Share this page:

Defend Privacy. Support EPIC.
US Needs a Data Protection Agency
2020 Election Security