The police union argued that the officers were themselves victims of aggravated assaults by the armed suspects they killed and thus qualified for anonymity under Marsy’s Law. The appellate court agreed in its 13-page ruling.

The phrase, “Government as a Platform,” was originally popularized by Tim O’Reilly in 2011. His idea was to create shared, digital infrastructure so agencies across a government could decrease redundancy and provide improved access, services, and transparency. While O’Reilly’s work focused on rethinking government across executive agencies, it’s applicable to the court systems, too. While legal proceedings are a different application, the distinction doesn’t change the conceptual model, as articulated by the Obama administration’s Digital Governance initiative, which comes in three layers.

“Our agencies are in possession of highly sensitive personal data, and they have a duty to protect it,” Nelson said in a statement. “Texans should not have to worry about their personal data being sold or shared with third parties without permission.”

Efforts to restrict the use of Social Security Numbers illustrate the irony that privacy protections, rather than being logically motivated by concerns about identity theft, are often wholly at odds with efforts to prevent identity theft. In reality, identity theft is often greatly facilitated by privacy, and the most effective tools for addressing identity theft involve the disclosure and use of additional personal information Government proposals to deny access to Social Security Numbers and other public records that can be used to authenticate identity turn the government into the unwitting accomplice of identity thieves. We must find better solutions.

The open flow of information is under attack in the United States as never before in an effort to protect privacy. This issue has united the far right and far left, Republicans and Democrats, federal and state governments, the Eagle Forum and the ACLU, even Phyllis Schlafly and Ralph Nader. In the past two years we have seen a flood of privacy legislation, regulation, litigation—including two supreme court cases upholding sweeping privacy laws, and negotiation.

The public record also raises concerns about information privacy. It is no exaggeration to say that access to and privacy of public records about individuals are virtually always in tension. Recently, however, pressures from European regulators and growing concern over the computerization of data have heightened both the importance and the difficulty of balancing access and information privacy.

Public records are a key source of information about consumer addresses. This information is used to help instantly verify identity when consumers apply for credit or seek to establish new cable or telephone service; protect against identity theft and credit card and check fraud; provide current contact information for owners of disused or delinquent accounts; and locate pension fund beneficiaries, heirs to estates, and owners of lost property.

The Lisk sisters vanished after getting off separate school buses in front of their home in 1997. Their bodies were found five days later after an intense search in the South Anna River, about 40 miles away. Through forensic evidence, their deaths were later linked to that of Silva, whose body was found in a swamp in King George County about a month after her disappearance the previous year.