Illegal Data Release Massachusetts

Broc said:
There are so few gun owners in the State and the renewal dates being our birthdays, as someone else said, it is easy to match it to census data with birthdays.

For example; some towns have just one renewal in a certain month.

Let's say TOWN A has one renewal on April 15.
Now you know someone born April 15 has guns.

You get the census data and the town maybe has 2 people with the same birthday.

Now you know one of those 2 has guns.

You go to Facebook, one has a bunch of pictures of nature, maybe a gun ... there is your guy.
Click to expand...
One problem: census does not contain anyone's birthday date. The only thing census asks for is the year of birth. In other words, what you wrote is not feasible
 
MetroWest said:
Hate to say it but birthdates are not PII. Anyone can request a list of residents from their Town/City Clerk in MA that will have names, addresses, and DOB info (except for minors and law enforcement). Some towns used to even print it every year in a bound booklet. It's a standard report from the state census database.
Click to expand...

Sure but that doesn't magically make it not PII in some other context.
 
Machines said:
Just for example, thanks to this data any one of the following people can look up your gun collection:

-Someone you've traded with in the past on an efa-10. This person has your address, too.
-Someone who knows your birthday. This person probably also has your address.
-Someone you've told "I bought xx gun today"
-Someone who sees a post online that says "I bought xx gun today"
-Someone who knows you own an uncommon gun
-Someone who sees the serial of a gun that went through a dealer

This doesn't mean you're going to get rolled but it's far more information than anyone should have access to. So you sold a .22 rifle to a guy on NES? Now he knows you own six registered machine guns. Tell a neighbor you sometimes do target shooting? Now she knows you actually own 42 ARs. Guy at the range sees you with a rare gun? Now he knows you have a $150K collection.



I'd be concerned about both.
Click to expand...
Exactly. This is what is scary about it.
 
UNKUSR said:
Any thoughts about making the entire forum all "members only"? Perhaps some sort of pay wall just to enter the forum. This will at the very least make it difficult to have all of our conversations readily available and add more membership revenue for donations to legal organizations representing us in this state.

Just my .02 for what it's worth.
Click to expand...

lol "they" will just pay to get in and leer wherever
 
HARRYM said:
Something tells me to stay tuned........
Click to expand...
There are already 15 years of EVERY firearm purchase in MA. How many more years do you need?

What I think will happen next is people will use this dataset to guess what guns their friends have. For example, if your friend lives in Leominster and owns a Beretta 92 and bought a Henry 45-70 rifle last year, you can use the data to find all purchases by people from Leominster that bought those firearms(with the Henry purchase taking place in 2022). There is a very good chance your friend is the only one on that list. Now you can see that he also owns a .40 cal which means he's a complete dink and you should never talk to him again!
 
Sammy said:
Geesh, ya'll are up in arms over something that is a nothingburger
  • All Personally Identifiable Information(PII) has been removed. There are no names of people or their addresses!
  • The data does include FFL business names, but that information is publicly available from the ATF or google maps.
  • The data was released as part of a FOIA request. The FOIA process is very rigorous when it comes to ensuring no PII is released
I am yet to see GOAL present an example of which data attributes in the dataset is actually "personally identifiable information). All they did is file a complain with references to MGL sections.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, are you up for renewal in a couple of weeks?

Edit - My bad - I think you were up for renewal last year, mid February or so. Two of the guys in your town have the same birthday, but the other guy only has an FID.
 
How come there are so many of you guys giving examples of fellow gun owners using this to find out what other gun owners have🤔🤔🤔
I thought we are supposed to be afraid of criminals and the state….
 
andrewCZ said:
This is what I’m trying to understand too. Aside from the birth month and day and city you live in there’s no other real identifying information for a criminal to find your address. They would need to know some of your gun purchases to figure it out. Or be extremely active here on the forum and do some searching and then compare stuff.
Click to expand...
Its not that hard to find someone if you know their birthday and town with this type of data.

Sammy said:
One problem: census does not contain anyone's birthday date. The only thing census asks for is the year of birth. In other words, what you wrote is not feasible
Click to expand...

That's absolutely not true. Do a public records search and you can get the census data for your town, which will list the full birthdate.
And yes, I have seen the data.
 
I spoke to a LEO and he had no clue about the data release. Oh boy. Told him he better spread the word as he will be outed like the rest asap.
 
Sammy said:
There are already 15 years of EVERY firearm purchase in MA. How many more years do you need?
Click to expand...
Hey, I am more than happy if they stopped there. [thumbsup] But some of us are over 40 years old, believe it or not. [laugh]

So if they are going to pull this illegal data dump bullshit mess, at least save me the cost of requesting my own complete FRB record. 🤔
 
Fixxah said:
I spoke to a LEO and he had no clue about the data release. Oh boy. Told him he better spread the word as he will be outed like the rest asap.
Click to expand...
Oh, snap! Giving LEO's the "exception" now makes them super easy to identify! Grab any FFL outside of Littleton, filter on anyone who bought a Gen 5 G19, mix in public birthday information(as posted by @LuvDog) and you have a full list of LEOs.
 
SgtHal75 said:
How come there are so many of you guys giving examples of fellow gun owners using this to find out what other gun owners have🤔🤔🤔
I thought we are supposed to be afraid of criminals and the state….
Click to expand...
You mean like one individual buying a LOT of non-MA items, and then selling them shortly afterwards? I won't say a thing.
 
drgrant said:
Sure but that doesn't magically make it not PII in some other context.
Click to expand...
Agree (and aggregating non-classified information and analysis into a document can get it marked as classified).
The thing is that Chapter 66, Section 10B is specific to only names and addresses not being released - it doesn't mention birthdate.
Although one argument could be made that releasing the birthdate information is a record that could be "tending to divulge" other information. That's something the lawyers get to argue.
 
Sammy said:
One problem: census does not contain anyone's birthday date. The only thing census asks for is the year of birth. In other words, what you wrote is not feasible
Click to expand...
I don't know, I am repeating what others said.
 
MetroWest said:
Agree (and aggregating non-classified information and analysis into a document can get it marked as classified).
The thing is that Chapter 66, Section 10B is specific to only names and addresses not being released - it doesn't mention birthdate.
Although one argument could be made that releasing the birthdate information is a record that could be "tending to divulge" other information. That's something the lawyers get to argue.
Click to expand...

Even the MGL definition of personal information includes this gem:

provided, however, that "Personal information" shall not include information that is lawfully obtained from publicly available information, or from federal, state or local government records lawfully made available to the general public.
Click to expand...
 
Next Tuesday, I wonder if Grace Curley on WRKO, time slot 12-3pm. will talk about this with Toby the gun guy from cape gun works.
 
I just thought of another use! Next time your spouse challenges you on the number of firearms you own, just show them the dude from Sudbury who has purchased 1050 firearms! This dude has some fun stats:
  • only owns 19 Glocks. This means he's not some nutcase.
  • owns 347 AK's. He must be Russian!
  • owns 135 SIGs. Seem normal until you realize that of those, 82 are P226's!
  • only 10 shotguns of which 6 are Benelli M4s. so... that's something.
  • hates Beretta. The ONLY Beretta he has is a 40 cal one!
  • Much respect though on having 16 UZI's!
  • Biggest fanboy of Colt rifles: 336 Colts
 
Sammy said:
I just thought of another use! Next time your spouse challenges you on the number of firearms you own, just show them the dude from Sudbury who has purchased 1050 firearms! This dude has some fun stats:
  • only owns 19 Glocks. This means he's not some nutcase.
  • owns 347 AK's. He must be Russian!
  • owns 135 SIGs. Seem normal until you realize that of those, 82 are P226's!
  • only 10 shotguns of which 6 are Benelli M4s. so... that's something.
  • hates Beretta. The ONLY Beretta he has is a 40 cal one!
  • Much respect though on having 16 UZI's!
  • Biggest fanboy of Colt rifles: 336 Colts
Click to expand...
I hope you’re joking and you’re not actually posting on here what a guy from Sudbury actually has after reviewing the data??…
 
Ref1968 said:
GOAL Teams with Comm2A in Response to State’s Unlawful Data Release​
Gun Owners’ Action League (GOAL) and the Commonwealth Second Amendment (Comm2A) have teamed up in response to an unlawful data release that includes very specific information on firearm transfers in Massachusetts.
We were recently made aware that the Firearms Record Bureau (FRB) posted links to extensive data covering every recorded gun transaction in Massachusetts going back nearly twenty years. The data files do not use buyers’ names, but it does assign everyone, including retailers, a unique numerical identification number. The data, now made public and downloadable, provides your ID number, the specific gun you bought, your town and zip code. It also provides the same information about the person or retailer you bought it from. Given all that information the data is very easy to decode.
GOAL and Comm2A are joining together to legally notify the State of the clear violation. According to law, we must provide them 30 day’s notice to correct the issue before taking any court action. We will keep our members informed as things proceed.

Data about firearms licensing and transactions:​

Data about firearms licensing and transactions

https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleX/Chapter66/Section10B
Chapter 66, Section 10B: Records divulging name, home or email address and phone number; persons who own, possess or have license to carry firearms; government personnel
Section 10B. The commissioner of the department of criminal justice information services, the department of criminal justice information services and its agents, servants, and attorneys including the keeper of the records of the firearms records bureau of said department, or any licensing authority, as defined in section 121 of chapter 140, shall not disclose any records divulging or tending to divulge the names and addresses of persons who own or possess firearms, rifles, shotguns, machine guns and ammunition therefor, as defined in said section 121 of said chapter 140, and names and addresses of persons licensed to carry or possess the same to any person, firm, corporation, entity or agency except criminal justice agencies as defined in section 167 of chapter 6 and except to the extent such information relates solely to the person making the request and is necessary to the official interests of the entity making the request.
Click to expand...
This data release is not an ‘accidental’ release like in Commiefornua. It’s the new AG crack down on firearm and ammo ‘hoarding’.
 

Similar threads

Chicago DA Says Illegal Guns, Drugs and Stolen Property Discovered during Routine Traffic Stops Will Not Be Treated as Offences
Replies
15
Views
315
Junior314
Junior314
District Judge: Gun Ban For Illegal Immigrant Unconstitutional
2 3 4
Replies
96
Views
3K
Kurtz
Kurtz
Nashville School Shooting: Federal Judge Orders Release of Transgender Shooter’s Journals
Replies
7
Views
304
bejay
B
Maine gets close to implementing 3 Day Wait Period and makes it illegal to do Paramilitary Training in the State
4 5 6
Replies
165
Views
5K
Uzi2
U
Massachusetts Aspiring Nurse Murdered By Boyfriend Of Two Months
Replies
4
Views
437
Dennis in MA
Dennis in MA
Back
Top Bottom