The Aspen Times: Gone are the days of filing a complaint with the government while resting assured your identity won’t be exposed.

Aspen resident John Miller learned that Monday after he told members of City Council, during the public-comment portion of their meeting, that he had complained about what he said was illegal construction activity in the city, only to be confronted by the accused party.

Miller, who runs a plumbing business, said his workers were threatened by the accused, who also threw rocks at his employees.

“I would never turn in anybody else again,” said Miller, who filed his complaint with the city.

Miller said he signed his name on the complaint form, and evidently the target was able to learn his identity from the city.

There was a time when people could file complaints knowing their identity would be confidential.

That changed in June 2015, when the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed a March 2014 decision by a Pitkin County district judge who had ruled Red Mountain resident Elesabeth R. Shook could not inspect government records revealing the identity of someone who complained to the county about a construction project on Shook’s property on Willoughby Way.

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