All who deal with OPRA routinely face the difficult question of whether home addresses in government records are confidential. Although the courts have recognized that there’s a privacy interest in a home address, they have sometimes held that this personal information is not exempt under OPRA.

This recent opinion piece by the the New York Times editorial board, “Home Addresses are Up for Sale. Time to Take Back Your Privacy,” makes a compelling argument for why people have a strong interest in maintaining the privacy of their home addresses. The key point is that the easy accessibility of home addresses online is dangerous, as this information can be “weaponized” by “trolls…, stalkers, domestic abusers and criminals.”

For this reason, as the Times notes, sites like Facebook and Twitter prohibit the posting of a person’s address. I think New Jersey courts should similarly enforce OPRA’s privacy exemption, and prevent OPRA requestors from accessing individuals’ home addresses.