2 ms·
If the state tried to prevent people from talking about officially public information, that seems like something that would be slapped down on first amendment g
by anonymousab 3y ago
If the state tried to prevent people from talking about officially public information, that seems like something that would be slapped down on first amendment grounds alone.
- bsder 3y agoNormally, I agree with you. Stuff like land boundaries, budget allocations, etc. should all be free to access, aggregate, and propagate. Arrest records are a bit different as you need to balance the rights of a person against the benefits to society. A person should not be punished simply by having an arrest record--that violates "presumption of innocence". Blind promulgation and aggregation of such records violates lots of people's rights. The police arrest people for shitty reasons all the time and then never press charges. If you want to promulgate an individual's arrest record, you should have to have some reason that overrides the right to "presumption of innocence" if you want to promulgate or aggregate that record. And you should have to show up with a piece of paper in person to get that record.