Feds invoke 'privacy' to shield public employees while snooping on the rest of us

Even as Washington gets heat for snooping on ordinary Americans and warning them that they "have no reasonable expectation of privacy" on Healthcare.gov, federal officials are increasingly using the “personal privacy” exemption in the law to shield their employees from scrutiny, according to open government advocates.

Information about pay bonuses, disciplinary actions and severance packages are being withheld by federal agencies citing the personal privacy concerns of their employees.

That is in vivid contrast to the privacy warning buried in the source code for Healthcare.gov, according to the Weekly Standard.

"You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system," the warning reads. It can only be seen by using a web browser's "View Source" function.

The section of the federal Freedom of Information Act intended solely to protect purely personal information like Social Security numbers, home addresses and medical records is now being used to shield government workers from accountability in their jobs, transparency advocates say.


http://washingtonexaminer.com/feds-invoke-privacy-to-shield-public-employees-while-snooping-on-americans/article/2537682

Historically, things like names, titles, compensation and duty stations of government employees were considered public records.

But the broad and poorly defined privacy exemption has become a convenient catchall for bureaucrats who don't want to release information that would give the public a keener insight into agency operations, said Tom Fitton, president of the nonprofit watchdog group Judicial Watch, which has chalked up repeated court victories in FOIA disputes.

“It’s part of the secrecy tool chest that government agencies use to keep the public from knowing what the government is up to,” Fitton said.

“It’s absurd. It’s a new shield the government is using to protect itself from having to disclose embarrassing details in controversies, which is exactly what are government employees doing with the time we are paying for,” Fitton said.




http://washingtonexaminer.com/feds-invoke-privacy-to-shield-public-employees-while-snooping-on-americans/article/2537682

There are two sets of laws in the Just-Us system:

One for cops, politicians and "officials".

One for all the rest of us Mundanes..

fshnski wrote:“It’s part of the secrecy tool chest that government agencies use to keep the public from knowing what the government is up to,” Fitton said.

What "Transparent Administration" is this?

 

Anti Federalist wrote:There are two sets of laws in the Just-Us system:

One for cops, politicians and "officials".

One for all the rest of us Mundanes..

That is for sure. We see it all the time.

Anti Federalist wrote:There are two sets of laws in the Just-Us system:

One for cops, politicians and "officials".

One for all the rest of us Mundanes..

  That's going to change: