At last week’s Irvine City Council meeting, the LiberalOC has learned that mayoral candidate and city councilor Christina Shea asked for and received tens of thousands of email addresses the City has acquired from Irvine citizens.ÂÂ
Shea used a public records act to get access to these email addresses from Irvine residents who signed up for Community Services classes and programs, or whose email addresses were on other lists due to interaction with the city. Shea’s reason for requesting the emails: she wants them for a newsletter.
But in giving Shea these email addresses, the City seems to be violating its own privacy policy. We’ve posted it below and bolded key phrases:
“The City of Irvine takes your privacy seriously. All information you provide is accessible only by Community Services Department registration staff. Class Coordinators and instructors will receive only the name, current age and address and phone number of participants. Email addresses will only be utilized for Department correspondence related to your registration, promotions, and to inform you of upcoming events. Your information will not be shared with other agencies, departments, businesses, or individuals, to the extent permitted by law.”
Shea needs to turn these emails back over to City Staff; if this newsletter is to be used to promote her campaign, it represents an inappropriate use of private information and is a violation of the city’s own privacy policy. I’m guessing she’s already given the addresses to Steve Smith at the Irvine Tattler. Irvine readers who suddenly start getting emails from the Tattler or Shea’s Newsletter are encouraged to let us know about it.