Maine Steering Committee for a Statewide Geographic Information System

PRIVACY AND LEGAL ISSUES SUBCOMMITTEE

The purpose of this site is to serve as a gathering point for privacy references and other legal materials that may be germane to the creation of a statewide geographic information system in Maine.  Members of the subcommittee include Harlan Onsrud, Chair, University of Maine, Kristin Hebert, Maine Municipal Association, Dennis Keschl, Maine Public Utilities Commission, James H. Thomas, Town of Freeport.

GIS & PRIVACY ARTICLES

Onsrud, H.J., J. Johnson, and X. Lopez, 1994, Protecting Personal Privacy in Using Geographic Information Systems. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, LX(9), 1083-1095 (ESRI Award for Best Scientific Article in the Journal - 1994).

Goss, J. 1995. "We Know Who You Are and We Know Where You Live: The Instrumental Rationality of Geodemographic Systems." Economic Geography 71 (2): 171-198. 

Hernon, P. and R. Duncan, 1997, GIS and Privacy. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 23(6), 515

Curry, M.R. 1997. "The Digital Individual and the Private Realm." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 87 (4): 681-699.

Marx, G. T., 1998, Ethics for the New Surveillance. The Information Society, July, 14(3), 171

Curry, M.R., 1998, Digital Places (New York: Routledge).

Dobson, J. 1998. "Is GIS a Privacy Threat?" GeoWorld, May. http://www.geoplace.com/gw/1998/0798/798onln.asp

Clarke, Roger, 1999, Person-Location and Person-Tracking: Technologies, Risks, and Policy Implications. Information, Technology and People, http://www.anu.edu/people/Roger.Clarke/DV/PLT.html

Armstrong, M.P., G. Rushton, and D.L. Zimmerman. 1999. "Geographically Masking Health Data to Preserve Confidentiality." Statistics in Medicine 18 (5): 497-525.

Dobson, J. 2000. "What Are the Ethical Limits of GIS?" GeoWorld, May. http://www.geoplace.com/gw/2000/0500/0500g.asp

Waters, N. 2000. "GIS and the Bitter Fruit: Privacy Issues in the Age of the Internet." GeoWorld, May. http://www.geoplace.com/gw/2000/0500/0500edg.asp

Armstrong, Marc, Geographic Information Technologies and Their Potentially Erosive Effects on Personal Privacy, Studies in the Social Sciences (forthcoming)

OTHER PRIVACY ARTICLES

There is a burgeoning literature on information privacy issues generally. A search of "information privacy" on Uncover reveals over 400 professional journal articles published in just the past two years.  There are at least 45 bills in the current US Congress relating to privacy.  Among the numerous web sites on privacy include http://special.northernlight.com/privacy/index.html

GOVERNMENT REPORTS ON GIS OR INTERNET PRIVACY

Ontario Office of Information and Privacy Commissioner, 1997, Geographic Information Systems (April 1997) (See Geographic Information Systems under http://www.ipc.on.ca/english/pubpres/sum_pap/summary.htm )

U.S. Dept of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 1997, Privacy and Self-Regulation in the Information Age. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/privacy/privacy_rpt.htm

Land Information Office, Dane County Wisconsin, November 1999, Privacy Concerns and the Land Information Office Web Site.

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee (2000)

National Institute of Justice, July 2001, Privacy in the Information Age

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/188739.htm

RECENT CASE LAW ON PRIVACY

Los Angeles Police Department vs. United Reporting Publishing, U.S. Supreme Court, No.98-678, decided Dec. 7, 1999. (State law upholding authority of local government agencies to maintain open access to public records while limiting the First Amendment rights of corporations to use government databases for commercial purposes.)

Reno vs. Condon, (1999 cite - U.S. Supreme Court) (Challenge to the constitutionality of the Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994.  Act upheld.  Those states that continue to sell driver's information must submit to a federal regulatory scheme)

State of Maine Case Law - Supreme Court 

STATE OF MAINE STATUTES ON PRIVACY

 

Authority of Attorney General to Request Utility Records (5 MRSA 200-B)

http://janus.state.me.us/legis/statutes/5/title5sec200-B.html

 

InforME: Electronic Access to Public Information (1 MRSA 14)

http://janus.state.me.us/legis/statutes/1/title1sec538.html

 

Dissemination of Information (20-A MRSA 6001):

http://janus.state.me.us/legis/statutes/20-A/title20-Asec6001.html  

Act Indefinitely Postponed by Legislature on 3-20-2001)

Notice of Information Practices (1 MRSA 14-A)

http://janus.state.me.us/legis/bills/billtexts/LD029901-1.asp

 

Resolve (Created 2-15-2001, Placed in Legislative Files 6-22-2001)

Commission to Study Privacy Laws (LD 872)

http://janus.state.me.us/legis/bills/billtexts/LD087201-1.asp  

STATE OF MAINE ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS

 

Online Rules of Maine State Government Agencies

http://www.state.me.us/sos/cec/rcn/apa/

GIS & LIABILITY

Onsrud, H.J., 1999, Liability in the Use of Geographic Systems and Geographic Data Sets. In Macquire, Goodchild, Rhind, and Longley, (Eds.), Geographic Information Systems: Principles, Techniques, Management, and Applications (New York: Wiley).

Phillips, J., 1996, Information Liability: The Possible Chilling Effect of Tort Claims Against Producers of Geographic Information Systems Data. Florida State University Law Review, 26(3), 743

Schultz, R., 1999, Application of Strict Product Liability to Aeronautical Chart Publishers. Journal of Air Law and Commerce. 64(2), 431-460.

Stewart, K., G. Cho and E. Clark, 1997, Geographical Information Systems and Legal Liability. Journal of Law and Information Science, 8(1), 84

MISCELLANEOUS

The following statement and policy was decided upon for Dane County Wisconsin after the Wisconsin law research report noted above was completed.
Public Information
and Privacy Statement
This web site is administered by Dane County, Wisconsin. Dane County is subject to a variety of state statutes governing public records and privacy rights. In advance of our decision to place data on this site on the World Wide Web, our legal advisors researched the law on these subjects. While the law recognizes that "it is not an invasion of privacy to communicate any information available to the public as a matter of public record," it also protects the rights of individuals from having certain personally identifiable information disseminated. In an effort to balance these competing interests, the names of property owners will not be publicly accessible from this web site. The complete public record is available at the public access areas in various County offices or by making open records requests.

Compare Trempealeau County Wisconsin

http://www.tremplocounty.com/Search legal_info.htm  > Trempealeau County Tax & Assessment Search.> Disclaimers

Compare Barron County Wisconsin

http://www.co.barron.wi.us/forms/treasurer_taxdataterms.pdf