In an attempt to persuade Virginia to take sensitive personal data off state Web sites Betty Ostergren created her own site and then posted public records that included the Social Security numbers of government officials, according to the Washington Times. Now, a federal appellate court in Virginia ruled that Ostergren can keep those records on her site, The Virginia Watchdog. The court found that a 2008 law outlawing publishing Social Security numbers violates Americans’ constitutional right to free speech.

“The unredacted SSNs on Virginia land records that Ostergren has posted online are integral to her message. Indeed, they are her message,” Judge Allyson K. Duncan wrote for the panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. “Displaying them proves Virginia’s failure to safeguard private information and powerfully demonstrates why Virginia citizens should be concerned.”

According to court papers, Virginia officials unsuccessfully argued that Ostergren’s posting of the documents isn’t protected speech. The Social Security numbers posted on Ostergren’s site, they said, facilitate “identity theft and are no essential part of any exposition of ideas.”

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