Economics Magazine

Paper Publishes Personal Info Of Gun Permit Owners and Blogger Publishes Personal Info Of Paper's Employees

Posted on the 27 December 2012 by Susanduclos @SusanDuclos

By Susan Duclos
Tit for tat.
The best quote I have seen over this story is from Wizbang who says "Karma’s a bitch..." Yes, it is.
The The Journal News sparked outrage when they decided to publish list of names and addresses of law abiding citizens that have obtained gun permits.
After mounting criticisms reached a fevered pitch, the paper then attempted to justify their action:

“New York residents have the right to own guns with a permit and they also have a right to access public information,” said Janet Hasson, president and publisher of The Journal News Media Group.

Quick side note here- There seems to be a question of whether The Journal News broke New York State law by publishing the names and the locations of people who obtained gun permits: (H/T American Thinker)
Section 1. Subdivision 5 of section 400.00 of the penal law
A. 9388 2

1 (II) A REQUEST FOR THE ENTIRE LIST OF LICENSEES, OR FOR ALL LICENSEES IN A GEOGRAPHIC AREA, SHALL BE DENIED, EXCEPT TO ANY LAW ENFORCEMENT
AGENCY OR ANY ENTITY ACTING ON BEHALF OF OR PROVIDING SERVICES TO ANY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SUBDIVISION, THE TERM "LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY" SHALL MEAN THE DIVISION OF STATE POLICE, ANY NEW YORK STATE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, ANY POLICE DEPARTMENT OF ANY CITY, VILLAGE OR TOWN WITHIN NEW YORK STATE, THE POLICE FORCE OF ANY NEW YORK STATE AUTHORITY OR AGENCY, THE STATE POLICE FORCE OF ANY OTHER STATE, ANY FEDERAL LAW

Back on point here, a blogger, over at "For What It's Worth," decided to turn the tables on The Journal News and published the "public information" available on the paper's staff and employees, calling it "sauce for the goose."
The blogger, Christopher Fountain, explains his reasoning on CNN's Early Start, according to MediaIte.
Following up on Fountain's information dump on The Journal News' employees, Talk of the Sound's Robert Cox  created an interactive map of the FWIW data, just like the one that The Journal News published.
Via Wizbang:
Looks like the anger directed at Cyndee Royle Lambert (her married name) has caused the woman who so proudly noted the protests as some sort of badge of honor is pulling back from the web.
Her private Facebook page is down, her Twitter account is protected, and her work Facebook account is over-run by commenters chastising her.
Karma’s a bitch…

Indeed.
There is another point other than the tit for tat or the absurd justification by the paper for deliberately targeting law abiding citizens.
Everything else aside, The Journal News literally just provided every criminal or would-be criminal in the state of New York, that cannot obtain a gun permit for whatever reason, a list, with a detailed map, of targets to try to obtain guns illegally from, by stealing them.
IOwnTheWorld calls The Journal News article "The Most Irresponsible Piece of “Journalism” I Have Ever Seen."
Agreed.


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