Does gov’t transparency trump personal privacy?

Brian Perry with the Madison County Journal (Mississippi) had an interesting article last week that asked the question: Is government transparency a violation of a government employee’s right to privacy?

Perry shares his inner conflict:

My libertarian streak opposes government secrecy, but advocates personal privacy. So where do we draw the line between individual privacy (including government employees) and the public’s right to know?

One extreme says there is no line. Government time; government computer; government e-mail means an employee paid by the taxpayers of Mississippi should expect no privacy in their e-mail or communications and all are subject to an open records request.

Another extreme says there is a privacy wall. Government employees presume their e-mails are private communications and they should not be subject to review from their colleagues, their bosses, the press, or any other Big Brother.

I guess you could call me an extremist advocate for the public’s right to know what public servants are doing on our dime. (shocked, aren’t you?) If government employees are worried about FOIA-filers seeing their jokes and family updates, maybe they should just wait until they get home to send personal messages.

Truth is, the people filing FOIAs likely aren’t looking for personal garbage and won’t care much about it. They are looking for government duplicity, waste, corruption, and information not able to be obtained otherwise. Citizen activists are few and far between, and serve the public by acting as (often unpaid) government watchdogs. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt that they can impersonally sift through the recipes and chain letters to get to the meat of government practices.