[Politech] Treasury Dept. breaks word on keeping email addresses private [priv]

From: Declan McCullagh (declan@private)
Date: Thu Jan 08 2004 - 12:22:46 PST

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    http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5137488.html
    
    Treasury breaks word on e-mail anonymity
    Last modified: January 8, 2004, 11:06 AM PST
    By Declan McCullagh 
    
    The U.S. Treasury Department plans to publish nearly 10,000 e-mail
    addresses on the Web, violating its privacy promise to Americans who
    used e-mail to comment on a government proceeding.
    
    In March 2003, the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and
    Trade Bureau (TTB) asked for e-mail comments about a proposal that
    could raise the price of malt beverages like Bacardi Breezer and
    Smirnoff Ice. At the time, the Department said that the text of
    comments would made public--but assured people that e-mail addresses,
    home addresses and other personal information of individuals would be
    removed first. [...]
    
    By October, the Treasury Department had received about 9,900 e-mail
    messages, plus 4,800 comments sent through the U.S. mail or fax--and
    decided it could no longer keep its promise.
    
    [...]
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