Alabama lawmakers voted Thursday to include themselves in legislation that would allow judges, law enforcement and prosecutors to shield personal information from being released on public records, such as a home address, phone number or driver’s license number.
The Alabama Senate approved the House-passed bill that would allow law enforcement officials to request that their personal identifying information be redacted from public documents.
The bill has now gone to Gov. Kay Ivey.
Felicia Mason, executive director of the Alabama Press Association, said Friday that the measure “would seem to be in conflict” with the information required on state ethics forms.
Alabama lawmakers and other public officials are currently required to file annual financial disclosure forms with the Alabama Ethics Commission.
The bill was introduced to combat the “doxing” of law enforcement officers and court officials where information is gathered about them and posted online in an attempt to harass, threaten, shame or exact revenge. Doxing is a shortened version of “dropping dox” or documents.
