4.24.680 - Unlawful release of court and law enforcement employee information -- Exception. - Washington Statutes

Unlawful release of court and law enforcement employee information — Exception.

(1) A person shall not knowingly make available on the world wide web the personal information of a peace officer, corrections person, justice, judge, commissioner, public defender, or prosecutor if the dissemination of the personal information poses an imminent and serious threat to the peace officer's, corrections person's, justice's, judge's, commissioner's, public defender's, or prosecutor's safety or the safety of that person's immediate family and the threat is reasonably apparent to the person making the information available on the world wide web to be serious and imminent.

     (2) It is not a violation of this section if an employee of a county auditor or county assessor publishes personal information, in good faith, on the web site of the county auditor or county assessor in the ordinary course of carrying out public functions.

     (3) For the purposes of this section:

     (a) "Commissioner" means a commissioner of the superior court, court of appeals, or supreme court.

     (b) "Corrections person" means any employee or volunteer who by state, county, municipal, or combination thereof, statute has the responsibility for the confinement, care, management, training, treatment, education, supervision, or counseling of those whose civil rights have been limited in some way by legal sanction.

     (c) "Immediate family" means a peace officer's, corrections person's, justice's, judge's, commissioner's, public defender's, or prosecutor's spouse, child, or parent and any other adult who lives in the same residence as the person.

     (d) "Judge" means a judge of the United States district court, the United States court of appeals, the United States magistrate, the United States bankruptcy court, and the Washington court of appeals, superior court, district court, or municipal court.

     (e) "Justice" means a justice of the United States supreme court or Washington supreme court.

     (f) "Personal information" means a peace officer's, corrections person's, justice's, judge's, commissioner's, public defender's, or prosecutor's home address, home telephone number, pager number, social security number, home e-mail address, directions to the person's home, or photographs of the person's home or vehicle.

     (g) "Prosecutor" means a county prosecuting attorney, a city attorney, the attorney general, or a United States attorney and their assistants or deputies.

     (h) "Public defender" means a federal public defender, or other public defender, and his or her assistants or deputies.

[2006 c 355 § 2; 2002 c 336 § 1.]

Notes: Finding -- 2006 c 355: "The legislature finds that the dissemination of personally identifying information as proscribed in RCW 4.24.680 is not in the public interest." [2006 c 355 § 1.]

Severability -- 2006 c 355: "If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected." [2006 c 355 § 4.]