Too much information?

I've just been reading this article in the Post, and I've learned that as a civil servant (although how civil I actually am is certainly in question) my name, job category, pay grade, and salary are public informations. Because your tax dollars support me - you deserve the right to know all about me.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. Technically speaking, my(and your) tax dollars pay for DH, but because he works for a private-sector company, you don't know how much he makes (you only know the $$ amount of the contract that was awarded to DH's company).

In 1816, when this law was apparently enacted, I guess that the information was much less likely to be used for nefarious ends. In this day and age of identity theft and all that, I'd be much more comfortable if my information were available by FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)request only, rather than open public knowledge.

Edited to add: I know that the database of all of our info exists because of FOIA - but I wish that people looking for that information would have to show a specific reason why they needed my particular information (or that of my department, or agency) before they could know it. This TRAC database just leaves a bad taste in my mouth