Jeb Bush just published thousands of citizens' names and email addresses
Source: The Daily Dot
By Kevin Collier on February 10, 2015
Florida governor Jeb Bush hasnt even yet formally declared his desire to run for president in 2016, but hes already started what appears to be a major email privacy blunder. His new project, the Jeb Emails, a massive, open database of correspondence to and from his jeb@jeb.org email address, publishes the names, messages, and email addresses of his constituents who emailed him during his eight years in office.
I emailed Governor Bush when the state was going through the initial insurance crisis, one woman, whose AOL email address was among those in the database, told the Daily Dot. I have never [given authorization] to publish the emails, but then [they] never said they were confidential or proprietary property of the Governor's office. They were just emails.
"I am fine with it on the emails concerning homeowners insurance," the woman added. Ones about "illegal immigrants," however, embarrassed her. "My feelings have changed on that subject and I wold hate to unduly upset anyone," she said.
Its difficult to estimate how many different personal email addresses are in the database, and many come from Floridians work accounts. But the number is easily in the thousands and more likely in the tens of thousands. The governors office didnt respond to an emailed inquiry about what information, if any, they did choose to redact, though it appears as though phone numbers have been obscured.
Read more: http://www.dailydot.com/politics/jeb-bush-email-scandal-database/
MynameisBlarney
(2,979 posts)What's next I wonder...
Leaked pics of him dressed up as SS?
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)George II
(67,782 posts)MynameisBlarney
(2,979 posts)but yours is much more likely, lol.
Delphinus
(11,831 posts)I've been too busy to keep up lately.
MynameisBlarney
(2,979 posts)Made a series of sexist and homophobic tweets.
George II
(67,782 posts)Will occupying the White House give his wife free reign to smuggle as much jewelry and clothes into country, too?
peacefreak
(2,939 posts)You're a gift that keeps on giving!
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)Going up agaisnt a Bush would be perfect for Democrats in 2016.
Any of his kids still in jail? Hope he runs. It will be so much fun.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)TBF
(32,062 posts)former9thward
(32,016 posts)Anyone can access them through FOIA. Whenever I write to my city councilman there is a message saying anything can be released that is sent to the city.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)neither was there a requirement that they do so, and it might have been wiser not to. Likely a lot of the people who wrote the emails had no notion that their email would be published (as opposed to just public, like, say, court records). Perhaps they would have chosen different words in certain instances if they had known that the messages would be published widely, and they may thus feel their trust violated.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)This faux pas demonstrates a lack of sensitivity to the feelings of others, a lack of the sense of the importance of the trust that individuals place in the officials in government that they confide in.
This is just so mean-spirited.
Jeb Bush was described as a bully in high school. This is the sort of thing a bully would do.
And Chris Christie is the same type.
But I bet if someone did this to the e-mails sent by Jeb Bush, Jeb would be furious. Who knows what he would do? He has a lot of personal power.
This is a big mistake. There will be more to come. Jeb Bush has shown his penchant for disrespect of others.
You know what would be interesting. What you said. Contact these people and find out whether they were happy with the way Jeb handled their correspondence. And then ASK JEB SPECIFICALLY ABOUT JUST WHAT HE WAS ASKED BY SPECIFICALLY NAMED PEOPLE AND WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARD.
Let's find out whether the list is cherry-picked to make him look good.
csziggy
(34,136 posts)Now it is automatically "published" to a publicly accessible site. The contact form for the governor has this statement:
Please be aware that personal information sent in your correspondence, such as home addresses and telephone numbers, may be posted to the Sunburst public records website.
http://www.flgov.com/contact-gov-scott/email-the-governor/
I'm not sure what notice was up when Jeb Bush was governor, but I know that most Florida government sites have some sort of notice and have had them for years.
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)Bush's team failed to do it because they are idiots.
former9thward
(32,016 posts)This is the Florida statement:
Under Florida law, all correspondence sent to the Governors Office, which is not exempt or confidential pursuant to Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes, is a public record. All public record electronic mail sent through this website will be posted to Project Sunburst at http://www.flgov.com/sunburst , and will be accessible to the public. If you do not want the public record contents of your e-mail or your e-mail address to be published on this website or to be provided to the public in response to a public records request, please do not send electronic mail to this entity.
Please be aware that personal information sent in your correspondence, such as home addresses and telephone numbers, may be posted to the Sunburst public records website.
http://www.flgov.com/contact-gov-scott/email-the-governor/
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)6.?Social security numbers held by an agency may be disclosed if any of the following apply:
a.?The disclosure of the social security number is expressly required by federal or state law or a court order.
b.?The disclosure of the social security number is necessary for the receiving agency or governmental entity to perform its duties and responsibilities.
c.?The individual expressly consents in writing to the disclosure of his or her social security number.
d.?The disclosure of the social security number is made to comply with the USA Patriot Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-56, or Presidential Executive Order 13224.
e.?The disclosure of the social security number is made to a commercial entity for the permissible uses set forth in the federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act of 1994, 18 U.S.C. ss. 2721 et seq.; the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. ss. 1681 et seq.; or the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, 15 U.S.C. ss. 6801 et seq., provided that the authorized commercial entity complies with the requirements of this paragraph.
f.?The disclosure of the social security number is for the purpose of the administration of health benefits for an agency employee or his or her dependents.
g.?The disclosure of the social security number is for the purpose of the administration of a pension fund administered for the agency employees retirement fund, deferred compensation plan, or defined contribution plan.
h.?The disclosure of the social security number is for the purpose of the administration of the Uniform Commercial Code by the office of the Secretary of State.
The idea that a data dump of that magnitude is within the FL state constitution is asinine. Even the federal level FOIA exempts SS # and many other things.
former9thward
(32,016 posts)That is what I addressed and if you read the posts that is what most of the posts have been about.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)The actual contents of the emails.
If it is legal to do so (and I think it would be), it would be very interesting to mine that data set as an informal way of seeing what's on people's minds--at least those people who care enough about something to email the Governor. Of course it's a highly biased sample, but that fact wouldn't matter for certain kinds of content analysis.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2943171/Whoops-Teenager-applying-estate-agent-job-accidentally-attached-Jamie-Oliver-recipe-chilli-beef-instead-CV.html
Maybe he hired her? Maybe he was hungry?
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)What an awful thing to do.
If I write to my governor to ask for help or complain, my question or complaint is personal to me. Who in the world thought this stupid idea of publishing these e-mails without specifically asking each author of each e-mail for permission?
It's really stupid!
vkkv
(3,384 posts)The entire family is pretty much useless.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Newsjock
(11,733 posts)... Some also contain the email addresses, home addresses, phone numbers, and social security numbers of Florida residents.
Panich52
(5,829 posts)Cha
(297,275 posts)napkinz
(17,199 posts)sgtbenobo
(327 posts)"Yuri Andropov"
Their dead and they make me laugh.
President Jeb Bush! Really?