Bye-bye privacy

[VV note: I was amazed — almost shocked — to see the locations of the residences of some of the Twin Cities' most powerful and well-off gentry published graphically in the February issue of the upscale Minnesota Public Radio magazine, Minnesota Monthly. I'm sure many of these are MPR supporters. I doubt this makes them giddy with excitement. — LP]

Invasion of the Data Snatchers

By BILL KELLER, NYT

YOU are the editor of a local newspaper. A reporter on your staff comes to you having obtained (by legal means) one of the following:

• Police records of arrests for drunken driving;

• The personal details of all the employees of local clinics that perform abortions;

• The subscriber list of a survivalist magazine with pronounced racist overtones;

• The names and addresses of food stamp recipients in your community;

• The donors to a group that promotes L.G.B.T. rights;

• The names of husbands accused of infidelity in divorce suits, along with the identities of the alleged lovers;

• Addresses of homes where pit bulls are kept.

(More here.)