Note:
W. Alan Kailer, The Release of Private Information Under Open Records Laws, 55 TEXAS L. REV. 911 (1977).
 

Abstract:
Increasing recognition of the individual’s right of privacy and the public’s right of access to governmental information has brought these fundamental rights into conflict. Federal and state open records laws usually attempt to reconcile this conflict and to protect both interest by exempting from the general requirement of disclosure those records that would cause an unjustified intrusion on personal privacy if revealed. In this Note, Kailer provides a brief summary of the historical development of the competing concepts of privacy and disclosure and then examines two cases dealing with such an attempted reconciliation under the Federal Freedom of Information Act and the Texas Open Records Act. He proposes that a successful resolution of the issue requires courts to unequivocally embrace a test that weighs the privacy interest against the general public interest and prohibits inquiry into the motives of individuals seeking the release of government-held information.