From gletham@axys.com Fri Apr 16 15:05:40 1999
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From: "G. Letham " <gletham@axys.com>
To: <waphgis@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Maps? and GIS and privacy
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 15:09:21 -0700
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Nice observations Tim. This reminds me of a couple of years ago here in
Victoria, B.C. when the city of Victoria decided to put parcel ownership
data on their web site. The thought of property values, mortgage
information, liens etc.. being on-line caused a real stir in the city.
Needless to say the site yanked the property ownership info almost
immediately.

What's public and what's private? You could argue this until the sun goes
down

Glenn

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Churches <tchur@bigpond.com>
To: waphgis@u.washington.edu <waphgis@u.washington.edu>
Date: Friday, April 16, 1999 2:29 PM
Subject: Maps? and GIS and privacy


>Richard E. Hoskins <rhoskins@home.com> writes:
>> Interesting site: See below
>> > Goto http://www.geodata.org then select the "Create a Map" button.
>> > When you zoom in close enough you can turn on aerial photos and
>> > 50 other map layers.  Email back if you have trouble.
>
>This is an impressive facility which illustrates the threat which GIS can
>pose to privacy and confidentiality - if misapplied. Go to the above Web
>site and click on Create a Map. Scroll down to the form search section and
>enter Abrahamson as the surname and click search. Click on the link to view
>the results, then click on the link of the single search result:
Abrahamson,
>Marlene and Fred. This will show a red shaded land parcel where Marlene and
>Fred live. Scroll down and click on the check box to display image data.
>While there, you will be able to learn Fred & Marlene's address details:
>
>OWNER:  ABRAHAMSON, MARLENE & FRED
>Address:  PO BOX 2658
>City:  OLYMPIA
>State:  WA
>
>Parcel#:  11907120100
>Site Address:  8510 NE GREENFIELD CT
>Site City:  OLYMPIA
>Site Zip:  98506
>
>Now scroll up and click a few times on the lower right corner (sorry, SE
>corner) of their block to zoom in and examine their house. They live on a
>wooded block with a cleared strip up the middle, like a golf fairway. They
>have a modest bungalow and drive a dark coloured car. Hey, there's Fred
>standing in front of it. He appears to be wearing a toupee... The house is
>very secluded - if I were a burglar (and weren't typing this in Australia),
>I might give Marlene and Fred a visit.
>
>OK, no health data on Marlene and Fred, but the potential for abuse is
>clear. What distinguishes this example is the linking of what appears to be
>public domain land ownership data with remote imaging in an Internet
>accessible GIS. Although each of the databases alone are fairly innocuous,
>linking them in a GIS and then making it globally available makes the sum
>far more dangerous than the parts.
>
>Tim Churches
>Sydney, Australia
>
>
>

.