Three days after a New York newspaper published the names and addresses of licensed gun owners in Westchester and Rockland counties, gun-rights advocates and privacy activists struck back.
Two bloggers published the names, addresses and other contact information for some of the the Journal News's staff in an effort to "keep up the heat," as one online scribe put it.
"Editor Cyndee Royle defends her decision and in fact sounds quite smug about it," wrote blogger Christopher Fountain, who published a detailed list of the paper's employees. "Her paper is apparently still trying to obtain, and publish, information on how many guns, and their type, are registered to each owner, presumably to make shopping easier for gun thieves."
The Journal News published the gun owners' information on Monday. In its report, it said it would also publish license information from gun owners in neighboring Putnam County at a later date, but officials there were still processing a public-records request.
Royle appears to be Fountain's main focus. He included photos of her with her family, the car she drives, various Facebook and Twitter accounts and a home phone number.
Fountain also posted information for Gracia Martore, the CEO of Gannett, which owns the Journal News.
Another blogger, Robert Cox, went further.
Imitating the interactive Google map that the Journal News assembled with all the gun owners' addresses marked — making it easier for readers to see which neighbors owned guns on their block — he mapped out the homes of newspaper staffers.
"Being included in this map does not mean the individual at a specific location is a responsible reporter or editor, just that they are a reporter or editor," Cox wrote.
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