I have no way of knowing what your "stereotypical Texan" is so I have no way of telling you if I fit the description or not. Is this the fourth or fifth in your series of ad hominem personal attacks against me?
I am going to try and answer your questions, but first I am going to take out the personal slurs you posted against me and other Texas residents.
How about the AMERICAN scam artists?
We have plenty of these and many are using the online access to the public records to perpetuate their fraud. Under the system I proposed the American scam artists would have to perpetuate their crimes within the jurisdiction where they could be more easily apprehended and prosecuted. Would it stop it? No but the scam artists would be severely restricted and more likely to be dealt with by the communities they harm.
Fact is, you can not limit the information that is available under FOIA.
The fact is their are already limitations and restrictions in place and more coming on board every day. In any case what I have proposed doesn't limit the information that is available. It limits the access to the jurisdiction of the agency where the information was compiled.
The reason for this was that people recognized that certain information HAS to be transparent in order to prevent massive frauds from occurring
Actually the purpose of the FOIA act was to make government more transparent, to prevent fraud from within the government. All states have their own versions of the federal FOIA. They are called by different names. In Texas it is called The Open Records act. Some states refer to their version as the Sunshine Act. In New York it is called The Freedom of Information Law. Each state sets the standards for their own agencies. Each state also sets the restrictions in ways they feel will best protect their own citizens.
I took a look at New York's Freedom of Information Law this morning. I wanted to see if you might be making a truthful statement as it applies to your state. You can find the full text here: http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/foil2.htm
New York's Freedom of Information Law has many restrictions. Here are a few as they might apply to our subject. What do you think will happen when the citizens of New York learn their private information is being distributed worldwide over the Internet? Thank you for causing me to take a look at the law in New York. Some of these restrictions are not included in Texas but should be. I will be making these recommendations in Austin.
2. (a) The committee on open government may promulgate guidelines regarding deletion of identifying details or withholding of records otherwise available under this article to prevent unwarranted invasions of personal privacy. In the absence of such guidelines, an agency may delete identifying details when it makes records available.
b) An unwarranted invasion of personal privacy includes, but shall not be limited to:
i. disclosure of employment, medical or credit histories or personal references of applicants for employment;
ii. disclosure of items involving the medical or personal records of a client or patient in a medical facility;
iii. sale or release of lists of names and addresses if such lists would be used for commercial or fund-raising purposes;
iv. disclosure of information of a personal nature when disclosure would result in economic or personal hardship to the subject party and such information is not relevant to the work of the agency requesting or maintaining it;
2-a. Nothing in this article shall permit disclosure which constitutes an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy as defined in subdivision two of this section if such disclosure is prohibited under section ninety-six of this chapter.
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