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To: Jim McMannis who wrote (264235)	7/27/2010 10:54:18 AM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 306849

Court OKs web posting of Social Security numbers By Larry O'Dell The Associated Press July 27, 2010 hamptonroads.com RICHMOND A Virginia privacy advocate can post public records containing Social Security numbers of private citizens as well as government officials on her website, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The court agreed with B.J. Ostergren's claim that a 2008 state law prohibiting anyone from making Social Security numbers available to the public violated her First Amendment rights. Ostergren posts the records on her website, TheVirginiaWatchdog.com, to publicize her message that governments are mishandling Social Security numbers and to prod them to correct the problem. Many of the documents are Virginia land records that court clerks have made available on government websites without redacting Social Security numbers. The General Assembly passed legislation prohibiting Ostergren's practice, saying the state's interest in preventing identity theft trumps her First Amendment rights. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed. "The unredacted SSNs on Virginia land records that Ostergren has posted online are integral to her message," Judge Allyson Duncan wrote in the unanimous opinion. "Indeed, they are her message. Displaying them proves Virginia's failure to safeguard private information and powerfully demonstrates why Virginia citizens should be concerned." The court also agreed that the state cannot punish Ostergren for posting on her website the same public records that the government makes available online. "Ms. Ostergren's most powerful advocacy weapon has been to demonstrate to the public how bad a job the government is doing to protect our online privacy rights," said Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, which represented Ostergren. "The government responded, but by trying to silence Ms. Ostergren." The Virginia attorney general's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case is not completely settled because the panel disagreed with U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne, who had issued a ruling that generally favored Ostergren, on the scope of her First Amendment rights. The panel sent the matter back to him for revision. Payne's ruling had allowed her to post only the Social Security numbers of Virginia legislators, court clerks and other public officials who are in a position to correct the problem - not the numbers of private citizens or government officials from outside Virginia. The appeals court said that was too limited. "Under our First Amendment analysis, Ostergren's constitutional right to publish Virginia land records containing unredacted SSNs does not depend on the political status of people whose SSNs are compromised," Duncan wrote.

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (264235)	7/27/2010 12:20:36 PM
From: joseffy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Rangel, ethics committee in last-minute bargaining By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer 7/27/2010 news.yahoo.com WASHINGTON – The Associated Press has learned that New York Democrat Charles Rangel is making a last-minute effort to settle his ethics case. A settlement would mean that Rangel must agree that he committed some ethical misconduct. The talks were confirmed by people familiar with the situation, but who were not authorized to be quoted by name. Rangel stepped down earlier this year as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee because of an earlier ethics charge. A settlement would spare him an embarrassing ethics trial. It also would be a relief for other Democrats, who fear that an dragged-out ethics proceeding during the fall election campaign would hurt their ability to maintain their House majority. The ethics committee's trial phase has been scheduled to commence Thursday afternoon.