etee's Blog

On July 9, the Houston Chronicle published an article on the amount spent on overtime by local government authorities. While the amount reportedly spent (about $150 million) and the alleged cause (a chronic case of not having enough people to do the job) are worthy and appropriate targets for media attention, one tactic went a bit over the line (at least IMO): a searchable database of who made how much:

The Houston Chronicle compiled detailed electronic payroll data on 81,000 employees at the Metropolitan Transit Authority, city of Houston, Harris County, Port of Houston Authority, Harris County Department of Education, Houston Community College and Houston Independent School District.

The records detail overtime, car allowances, bonuses and total annual pay. The data were collected under the Texas Public Information Act from the agencies, all of which receive property tax revenue from Harris County homeowners.

As late as this morning, the link is still up on the Chron's home page (though the page now only displays the comments to the article, and I no longer saw the actual database itself):

Fresh Meat! Telemarketers, 419ers, and other scumbag scam artistes: find your next marks, right here!

There are two things I find a bit disturbing. The first is that the Texas Public Information Act requires (or even allows) the release of "detailed electronic payroll data" on government employees (civil servants). Has the Lege not yet heard of "Identity Theft"? When my employer experienced a similar release, I was offered free credit report monitoring. While, admittedly, there may be like 3 people left on the entire planet whose private financial/identity information hasn't been the subject of a "data theft" incident, correcting this oversight really should be a priority for the next session.

The second, and more surprising (to me at least), item is that the Chronicle would actually publish the data. There are times and circumstances (such as in a civil lawsuit, or when applying for a loan) when disclosure of this information is necessary and appropriate: however, making it available to the general public seems to me to verge on inviting us to become virtual voyeurs, providing a peek into details of our neighbors' private lives that we would scream bloody murder about if it were our lives. As Houston firefighter Jon Carter noted:

...it's not really a secret that we are not paid well, but I'm not a fan at having my income out there for everyone to see.

It just seems a bit seedy to me. I would ask the Chronicle editors to consider something, next time they are presented with this type of opportunity: would they be willing to include the "detailed electronic payroll data", including "overtime, car allowances, bonuses and total annual pay" on themselves and their staff in the searchable database? How would they justify this to their employees?

Just because you can do something, doesn't necessarily mean you should do it.