The Houston Chronicle opined today against closing public employees' dates of birth; as the law is now, that information is open to any citizen's review.

The Chronicle's take:

We believe there is an overriding public interest in making birth dates available in instances of public employment.

Here is why: Birth dates can be invaluable tools in news gathering, and they have frequently helped reporters with stories that protect the public interest. For example, knowing birth dates has assisted reporters in identifying public employees with criminal records who work in sensitive settings such as public schools and facilities of the Texas Youth Commission. Registered sex offenders working in the schools have been discovered in this fashion.

We heartily agree with the Chronicle. We blogged in December on a similar plan to close off access to public employees' and officials' home addresses and phone numbers.

A birthdate is a valuable tool to make sure the John P. Smith who gave the politician $10,000 is the same John P. Smith whose company benefits from legislation sponsored by the politician.

That said, there's usually little or no journalistic value in passing on John P. Smith's birthdate to the world via the Internet. And because of privacy laws, there are strict tests as to who can access certain information and for what purpose. Using the example of the LexisNexis commercial service, its databases contain whole reams of information about private citizens that LexisNexis' journalist customers (including us at Texas Watchdog) cannot access by law because you, the private citizen, have not authorized us to do so.

Photo of a birthday cake by flickr user Jessica Driver, used via the Creative Commons license.

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