Longtime Politech readers will remember how the government of King County, Washington, tried to muzzle the justicefiles.org site, which posted public records including police officers' names and salaries: http://www.politechbot.com/kirkland/ And then there's the similar case involving Paul Trummel, a Washington state writer who set up the contracabal.org site, although he was writing about an HUD-funded housing project, not the police: http://www.politechbot.com/p-03664.html Now police in Florida seem to be using the same tactics of unwanted publicity against journalists who dare to air critical reports about cops' racial profiling and reactions to complaints: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/14218941.htm "The personal information of an investigative reporter was posted prominently on a South Florida police union's website after a local television station aired a report about how police in Broward and Miami-Dade counties deal with the public. The address, date of birth and driver's license number of WFOR CBS-4 reporter Mike Kirsch was posted as a BOLO -- or ''be on the lookout'' -- on the website of the Broward County Police Benevolent Association... Alan Rosenthal, an attorney for CBS-4, a Miami Herald news partner, demanded that the union remove the BOLO, calling it false and a violation of Florida and federal law that prohibits the disclosure of ``personal identifying information contained in motor vehicle records.''" -Declan _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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