Several Virginia legislators have introduced bills for reforms to the handling and display of land records that contain private (SSN, birthdates, etc) information. Via the Daily News-Record [www.dnronline.com]:

Two bills that address Social Security numbers being posted online with land records are set to go before the General Assembly soon.

Del. Jeffrey Frederick, who represents Prince William County, is introducing one bill. Del. Samuel Nixon, who represents Chesterfield County, is introducing the other bill.

Frederick's bill suggests posting land records online but leaving out those that contain personal identity information.

...

Nixon's bill differs from Frederick's in that he suggests a system that would allow citizens to call the clerks of court and ask that their personal information not be posted online.

And in a blind rush to adhere to a statute, Rockingham County will be posting documents containing Social Security numbers:

Whether land documents containing Social Security numbers should be posted online became a topic of interest last month, when Rockingham County announced it would be putting all deed information online by early February.

County Circuit Court Clerk Wayne Harper said the county is putting its land records online to comply with a state mandate that says every county must post its deed information on the Web by July 2006.

Harper said the county would put the documents online with Social Security numbers because it is illegal for clerks of court to remove numbers from official documents.

I'd like to think that you'd get fired in the private sector for blind stupidity such as this, but there's no guarantee. I'm just glad I don't live in his county. The PWC Land Rover [www.pwcgov.org] is free of most data usable for identity theft.

Technorati Tags: Prince William County, privacy