On Tuesday, former Florida governor Jeb Bush published Volume 1 of an e-book detailing all of his official correspondence while in gubernatorial office. Although the e-book is edited and e-mail addresses have been redacted, the Governor's Office also published six Outlook files full of all of Bush's unredacted correspondence—creating a trove of full names connected with personal e-mail addresses, home addresses, phone numbers and even social security numbers, as The Verge first reported.

"This year I am releasing an e-book that uses my emails with Floridians as a guide to my eight years as governor. Here's a sneak peek at Chapter 1,” the former governor and possible presidential hopeful explains on his website jebbushemails.com. In the corresponding e-book, he continues, “Millions of emails came in through our website, but it was when I made my personal email—jeb@jeb.org—public that I earned the nickname 'The eGovernor.'”

Unfortunately, releasing the personal e-mails of his correspondents probably won't lead to the same jokey familiarity for them, and it could result in dangerous exposure to identity thieves and social engineering hackers.

The scope of the e-mails is vast and includes everything from automated messages to brief summaries of the state of Cuban refugees who arrived on Florida's shores to oddly personal e-mails from constituents. Some e-mails include correspondence that had not been addressed to Bush originally but showed up when part of an e-mail was forwarded to him. Other e-mails include personal information about people who aren't involved in the e-mail thread at all. “Did you get this? Eric's wife is being induced tomorrow a.m. so we'll be out of town for a while. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!” one cheerily reads.

Other e-mails contain impassioned rants about Terri Schiavo, a woman who had been in a persistent vegetative state in Florida in 2005 whose guardians became embroiled in a legal struggle over whether Schiavo's feeding tube could be removed. Still others are messages of support from people who write as if they're on a first-name basis. Others are written as a last resort, hoping to sway the Governor in support of their everyday battles, as this e-mail, which contains full names in the original:

Dear Governor Bush, My name is [name redacted by Ars]. I am the mother of [name redacted by Ars], actually it is now [married name redacted by Ars]. She got married the Saturday after Thanksgiving. She and her Husband are expecting a daughter in March. She is a very sweet loving young woman who made a terrible mistake. She got a DUI. She has paid all of her fines, but, she is one month behind in her paperwork. She and our family tried to talk to her probation officer for an exstention, all that the officer said was were we trying to cause her to lose her job? I swear that was never implied. My daughter, with, permission, moved to Michigan, where she is still living. The officer said she would have to violate her. The clerk of courts office said that that could mean an arrest warrant. My daughters pregnancy has been a difficult one. She wanted to be here for Christmas. Her Dad and I couldn't be at her wedding, too much to fly there. He couldn't walk her down the aisle, I felt so bad for her. my daughter did an extremely STUPID thing. She is soooo sorry. She understands that she must follow the rules she just got behind. Please, can you help us. Please, don't let them send my child and grandchild to jail. I don't think she could make it in there. Honest to God, we really are descent people, but descent people mess up and of course should pay like everyone else. I understand that, I truly do. I am at a loss. Her probation officer is [name redacted by Ars]. She works in [Florida city redacted by Ars]. The judge she had was [name redacted by Ars]. Please tell me what to do. i haven't told you the whole story. It would take too much of your time. I'm sorry to have bothered you with this. Thank you. Sincerely, [Name and phone number redacted by Ars]

On a federal level, e-mails sent to a public official can be requested by anyone—US citizen or not—through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). On a state level, Florida's Sunshine Law provides a similar level of access to correspondence with a state official. The FOIA and state open government laws theoretically provide some checks on what information can be freely accessible through an application process. And if you request FOIA information about an individual, the requester must generally provide identification "in order to protect your privacy and to ensure that private information about you is not disclosed to someone else," the FOIA website explains. In addition, it may not be immediately clear to many people who all e-mails sent to a public official may be reproduced publicly.

Although what Jeb Bush did may not be illegal, it shows a flagrant disrespect for the people who may have sent him information thinking it was in confidence.

Ars has contacted Jeb Bush (through the jeb@jeb.org e-mail address, no less) as well as Mr. Bush's Political Action Committee for comment, and we have not yet received a response. Bush's spokesperson did give a comment to CNBC, however, stating "This is an exact replica of the public records on file with the Florida Department of State and are available at anyone's request under Chapter 119 sunshine laws."