Originally Posted by
Deltahater
You really should know better. Every legal filing is public record unless you get it sealed. It is amazing what you can find out about your neighbors if you search tax records, marriage records etc.
If you participate in any filing (in court or with an agency like the DOT, CTA), you bet that your personal information is public record.
When you are bored one day, just go to the courthouse and look up some divorce decrees. Often they include SSN, children's birthdays etc, especially the older ones.
Them's the rules of the game.
It cuts both ways.
LX's agents, their filings and the correspondence with CTA is all available under the Canadian AIA. That means, we're going to obtain the text of the lobbying activities undertaken on behalf of LX when this is done, as well as communication between public officials and the LX lobbyists and CTA officials. They know this. So do we. And...so we should. Citizens in democracies absolutely should have rights of accountability regarding public affairs/tax dollars, as these proceedings are. However, the gov't requires reciprocidad in this. I think it's fair.
If you don't like the idea, then don't file with public agencies. But as Deltahater says, there are tons of facts available to any and all who care to search for them. Just as an FYI, my County Assessor's office posts mortgage downpayment information along with parcel data on their public geospatial data site.... my students have a great time mapping this during GIS classes....shows how little the nouveau riche actually put down
I would much rather live under these conditions than, say, Putin's Russia. You might keep your information confidential from your neighbors (although never from the state "security" apparatus), but then, you have no recourse or method of ensuring public accountability.