Pittsfield Council Acts on Doxxing Fears — And No, That Doesn’t Mean They Forgot About the Potholes

The Pittsfield City Council voted this week to remove councilors' home addresses from city documents and websites, replacing them with the City Hall address at 70 Allen Street. The move is about safety, and the timing makes sense.

Ward 7 Councilor Katherine Moody made the stakes clear. A city councilor in Virginia was set on fire last year by a member of the public. "I don't think anybody worries about me being able to defend myself, but I do have children, and I worry for them," she said. -iberkshires.com

The council also voted to stop requiring members of the public to give their home address before speaking at open mic sessions. Just your name and what city you live in. That puts Pittsfield in line with Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and most other major Massachusetts cities.

Here is the bigger picture. We live in a moment where doxxing, meaning the public exposure of someone's personal information to invite harassment, is a real and documented threat. It happens to school committee members. It happens to library directors.

The federal government has even allowed ICE agents to wear masks and conceal their identities during operations, citing safety concerns about their personal information being exposed. If that justification applies to federal law enforcement, it is not a stretch to apply it to an elected city councilor in Pittsfield.

Will some people say the council should be focused on potholes instead? Absolutely.

But city government does not work on one thing at a time. Councilors can vote on a privacy measure on a Tuesday night and still show up Wednesday morning fighting for road repairs. That is how legislatures work at every level.

This is a small vote with a bigger message. The political climate has changed. Even local officials are feeling it.