Opinion ID: 1242767
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Privacy Interest in Birth Dates

Text: ¶ 14 Whether a person's birth date may be subject to a privacy claim is a question of first impression in Arizona. We again look for guidance to federal cases construing the FOIA. Although we have never defined the meaning of privacy under the Public Records Law, the Supreme Court, interpreting the FOIA, has stated that information is private if it is intended for or restricted to the use of a particular person or group or class of persons: not freely available to the public. Reporters Comm., 489 U.S. at 763-64, 109 S.Ct. at 1477 (footnote omitted) (internal quotations omitted). The Court has also stated that the privacy interest encompasses the individual's control of information concerning his or her person. Id. at 763, 109 S.Ct. at 1476. ¶ 15 One federal case directly addresses the issue of whether birth dates are private or confidential information. In Oliva v. United States, the court held that disclosure of birth dates and social security numbers would violate the FOIA as it would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. 756 F.Supp. 105, 107 (E.D.N.Y.1991) (citation omitted). It found that social security numbers, and dates of birth, are a private matter. Id. (emphasis added). ¶ 16 The Supreme Court's definition of privacy in this context, along with Oliva, demonstrates that birth dates are in fact private information. Birth dates are information usually restricted to a class of persons, typically family members and friends. The only instance when one divulges this information occurs in the business or workplace context where the information is a prerequisite for certain benefits, such as employee retirement and benefits calculations, the purchase of health or automobile insurance, credit application, etc. The public availability of birth dates does not negate privacy interests. All it means is that there are some temporary or specific situations where we willingly waive that interest. [1] ¶ 17 The trial court found that the teachers had an expectation of privacy in their birth dates, evidenced by agreements between the teachers and plaintiffs which required permission to release this information. The record amply demonstrates a variety of legitimate reasons why the teachers desired to protect their birth dates from release. Moreover, Arizona Administrative Code § R2-5-105(D) specifically enumerates the employee information that the State of Arizona will release upon a Public Records Law request. That list does not include birth dates. The trial court likened birth dates to social security numbers, which the FOIA protects from disclosure. Like social security numbers, birth dates may be used to gather great amounts of private information about individuals. [2] ¶ 18 With both a name and birth date, one can obtain information about an individual's criminal record, arrest record (which may not include disposition of the charges), driving record, state of origin, political party affiliation, social security number, current and past addresses, civil litigation record, liens, property owned, credit history, financial accounts, and, quite possibly, information concerning an individual's complete medical and military histories, and insurance and investment portfolio. ¶ 19 Based on the foregoing, we conclude that a person, including a public school teacher, has a privacy interest in his or her birth date. The question then becomes whether that interest is sufficient in a given case to outweigh disclosure, which is presumptively required where public records are concerned.