RICHMOND, Va., March 22 (UPI) -- The right of a privacy advocate to publish Virginia state officials' Social Security numbers is at the heart of a court case to begin this week, officials said.
Betty "BJ" Ostergren posted the numbers, accessible to the public elsewhere, on her Web site to pressure the officials into keeping such information off government sites such as those maintained by courts, the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch reported Monday.
In June 2009, a federal judge ordered Virginia to cease enforcing a state law barring the dissemination of Social Security numbers, ruling the law violated Ostergren's free-speech rights, the newspaper said.
The Virginia state attorney general's office appealed the ruling, and a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments Tuesday.
The American Civil Liberties Union, representing Ostergren, argues that her publishing of the numbers on her TheVirginiaWatchdog.com site for "shock value" is political speech protected by the Constitution.
Virginia argues the numbers can be used in identity theft.
"Although the First Amendment provides robust protections for all manner of speech," a brief filed by the state says, "it does not go so far as to protect speech that exposes public officials or members of the general public to the very real prospect of devastating criminal predation."
