Agenda Packets - 2008/01/14 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Kid's address on Google arouses concern Tatum Fjerstad staff writer In the last few years, Google has morphed into more than a search engine. Googling has become a way of life and a verb among those who use it regularly. At the Mounds View City Council meeting on Dec. 10, Connie Hammes spoke during the public forum, citing the Web site as the reason why she declined to offer her address before the council as proof of her residency in the city. "In this day and age, we've all heard about protecting our privacy, especially with our children, so we have to try to keep up," she said. "A lot of the time, we have to go beyond." Hammes made the effort to go beyond, and she "googled" her son's name. "I was surprised at what I found," she said. "It's scary what you can find." Every time her son had come before the Mounds View City Council, he stated his name and address, and her son's address was listed in the council minutes, which can be searched on Google.com. When he was as young as 7 years old, her son's full name and address were easily found in several links on the search engine. "It's a scary thing to think that your 7-year-old child's address is right there for everyone to see," Hammes said. She asked that the council take this into consideration and possibly make a motion to not require the addresses of minors who come before them. "I don't think you want to discourage youth participation in our government," Hammes said. She encouraged the council to google their own names and follow the links to see what they found about themselves. "I haven't found a way to get rid of what is already on the Internet," Hammes said. "But we can prevent it from happening again to other people. We can let parents know that if their children come to speak to the council that their address isn't going to be on the Internet." Council Member Joe Flaherty asked City Attorney Scott Riggs for the reason behind requiring addresses of people who speak before the council. "It's to ascertain, I assume, that people are residents of the community," Riggs said. "I understand the concern, certainly. You do have some discretion in the matter." What happens in a public meeting is public domain. The meetings are videotaped, and the names and addresses of the citizens who speak can be found online and at City Hall listed in the minutes. Mayor Rob Marty said the Google issue needs to be discussed at a future work session. Tatum Fjerstad can be reached at tfjerstad@lillienews.com or at 651-633-2777.