• dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I’ve never understood why things like this have to be a part of public record. Traffic accidents, traffic citations, bankruptcies, buying a house, and even getting divorced.

    All of those are very personal things that should never be a part of public record. And even if they are, the PII should not.

    • Zachariah@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Simple improvement: Add a fee to access the personally identifiable information. And make the record of accessing the information public.

      Not perfect, but better.

      • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I believe some things (like DMV records) are fee based. But the fee is nominal and wouldn’t stop any predator from doing bad things if they are so inclined. The only thing adding fees does is to financially incentivize keeping the data online and accessible to anybody who pays.

        • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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          2 months ago

          But the fee is nominal and wouldn’t stop any predator from doing bad things if they are so inclined.

          It might slow down people from doing it in bulk, though.

      • Kairos@lemmy.today
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        2 months ago

        That wouldn’t fix anything. There would be a site reselling it for a lower price or a large subscription fee for a specific area.

        Almost anything made by governments is public domain so it’s legal.

            • grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org
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              2 months ago

              Accurate. I both misread your comment and I have a bee in my bonnet about a $20 fee to take pictures of something you can examine for free.

              • Kairos@lemmy.today
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                2 months ago

                They do that because they can. Write a letter to your mayor or executive of whatever municipality that is.

                • grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org
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                  2 months ago

                  Technically, it’s not been my municipality that’s charged me, but those around me and where I work. I don’t vote there. My town didn’t exist when the people I’m researching were making records. And at the state level, it comes up every few years but dies in committee. Last time was in 2020, when it died due to the pandemic changes everyone’s focus. I’ll ping my local congresscritter and see if it can be revived–the person advocating for change recently retired, sadly.

    • spookex@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Say that under any thread about any billionaire and watch your comment get double digit downvotes

      • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I don’t like the existence of billionaires anymore than the next reasonably-sane pleb does. But someone’s financial/social status should never be a consideration to their constitutional right of privacy. You’ll just have to find some other way to harangue them for their behavior.

      • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Why? To publicly humiliate a person? Not everyone is evil; people fall on hard times. It happens. A lot. Why should they be further harassed by predatory practices of being offered loans after they’ve hit the rock bottom of their financial world? Because the first thing that happened when I filed for bankruptcy was to be offered a mortgage loan.

        • Baggins [he/him]@lemmy.ca
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          2 months ago

          Because you’re asking a court to let you not pay back a bunch of money you borrowed. Is that not reason enough? I’m not sure what you taking out another loan during bankruptcy has to do with that.