Assessments and Privacy
One issue I've been following since I began this blog involves privacy and public records on the internet. This article details a Pittsburgh-area politician's attempt to prevent public searches on the Alleghany County Assessor's website. The goal of the politician (Councilman William Robinson) is to prevent criminals from being able to easily find personal information for individuals owning real estate in Alleghany County. (The public could still obtain such information by filing an official request -- it just wouldn't be available immediately via the internet.)
Councilman Robinson's goal may be laudable, but it seems to provide an overly-broad solution to a fairly narrow problem. As mentioned in the article, the Assessor's website provides lots of different information to its visitors. Some of that information is very important and raises very few privacy concerns (for instance, the information on assessments helps in the assessment appeals process). Other information strikes me as less valuable and more intrusive (allowing searches for property by the owner's name).
A couple of other points:
1. It's also worth noting that the website no longer includes the names of federal, state or local judges. The tricky question (raised here by the president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police) is, why stop with judges? And, if we don't stop at judges, where do we stop?
2. It's fairly easy to take title to property in a way that provides some privacy protection (by doing so via a land trust or a corporation, for instance). However, is it really fair to make privacy protection available only to those who are wealthy and/or sophisticated enough to use these vehicles?
Bookmark: 
