Can a state government prohibit an individual from posting Social
Security numbers online that were easily and legally obtained from
government Web sites?
The answer, a federal judge in Virginia ruled last week, is a
definite 'No,' at least for Betty "BJ" Ostergren, a privacy advocate
who operates a Web site that posts Social Security numbers obtained
from public records. Ostergren's postings are part of a campaign to
show how easy it is to access very personal information on the Web.