Some of the names belonged to young adults who were sleeping in their cars. Others were pregnant high schoolers. Some became homeless after fleeing domestic violence, or being kicked out of their homes.
Nearly every name logged into the datasets came with a wealth of sensitive, deeply private information: Full name. Birthdate. Current housing status. Gender identity and sexual orientation. Sometimes the data included health information about pregnancy, mental health, addiction.
Until earlier this month, all of this information and then some was publicly accessible.
A few clicks through online data dashboards run by A Way Home Washington, one of the state’s most prominent homeless youth advocacy and support organizations, allowed unrestricted access to dozens of different fields of private information on hundreds of young clients who were homeless or close to becoming so.
