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Public OK With Releasing Some Criminal Records Publicly 05/31/00.(Government Activity)Author/s: Brian Krebs WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 2000 MAY 31 (NB) While nearly 90 percent of Americans are "very concerned" about the misuse of their personal information, an almost equal number said they would support making certain types of criminal justice records available to groups outside the criminal justice system - including employers when there is a perceived rationale for public safety, a recent Justice Department survey reveals. According to a survey released today by the DOJ and the National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, nearly nine out of 10 adults would favor some access to conviction records by potential employers or to government licensing agencies if the position involves sensitive work such as handling money or working with children. Public support dropped precipitously, however, for providing arrest-only records or criminal history and conviction records online. The report, unveiled at the National Conference on Privacy, Technology and Criminal Justice Information, relied on a random telephone survey of more Than 1,000 respondents, many of whom indicated a wariness with the lucrative business of selling both criminal and credit records on the Internet. The study found that nearly all of those surveyed who use the Internet on a regular basis believed their credit and criminal history records could be obtained online. A full 89 percent said commercial companies that maintain and distribute criminal history records should be subject to the same fair information practices - notice, access and procedures for resolving disputes - to which government criminal history agencies must adhere. Alan Westin, a professor of public law and government at Columbia University, said the report validates his personal theory that society is divided into three camps on the issue of privacy: Privacy Fundamentalists, Privacy Unconcerned, and the Privacy Pragmatists. "A majority of the public starts out as Privacy Pragmatists, who want to pick and choose which information is most sensitive," and will volunteer personal data if they feel it's a benefit to them and the risk of thir parties abusing that information is low, Westin said. "But as we've seen the rise of commercial information distribution systems and the demands for criminal history information for societal uses at unprecedented levels, we're starting to see more people moving toward," the Privacy Fundamentalist camp. Westin said many criminal and other court records are considered "public record," accessible to government agencies, insurance companies, lawyers, and the media. But even with this concern, Westin said, there appears to be a popular belief that the protection of personal privacy should not be at the expense of the public good. Westin said the poll's results show that Americans believe government - not private enterprise - should maintain criminal history records. Westin added that the report indicates much of that concern arises from the respondent's negative experiences with businesses practices, both on- and offline. A full 38 percent of those surveyed said they felt they had at one time or another been victimized by a business collecting and using information about them. Yet, even if those records were maintained by government, nine out of 10 surveyed said they believed criminal history records currently open to public should not be posted on Internet. But Ari Schwartz, a policy analyst for the Center for Democracy and Technology, called the report a non-starter. "You mean people would trust the government more for handling the records the government already has?" Schwartz asked. "Should the private sector have to do the same things the government must do with this information? Who's going to say no to that?" Peter Swire, chief counselor for privacy at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), said information on consumers that have filed for bankruptcy is also publicly available. Such records, Swire said, usually include a filer's Social Security, bank account and credit card numbers. Swire said the Clinton administration has asked the OMB, Treasury Department and the Justice Department to issue a separate report on the proper place for bankruptcy records in the public domain, and specifically whether those records should be made available online. The Federal Trade Commission has wrestled with the issue of consumer privacy on the Internet for several years now, endorsing industry self-regulation over federal laws. But the FTC recently switched gears and sent a privacy report to Congress asking for greater powers to regulate consumer privacy standards online, by enforcing Fair Information Practices of notice, choice, access and security for many types of consumer data. (20000531/WIRES ONLINE, LEGAL, BUSINESS/DATASEC/PHOTO) COPYRIGHT 2000 Newsbytes News Network
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