First, you did issue a claim about this matter being illegal and you did so first.  You are the one who admitted to not having looked into this, so your anger about this being  "ill researched" by you seems to be self-directed or otherwise misdirected at me.

Second, I see lawyers come and go daily who cannot execute documents properly, who argue points of law erroneously, and who don't know how public agencies work to save their lives.   You're law degree is a personal accomplishment for you.  If you expect that to speak well to you, then you need to speak with knowledge and authority (colloquial use of the word here), and do so in a manner that is unlike many of your peers who get into the media every day and speak so wrongly.  The issue is your interpretation and lack of understanding of authority.  I've given you enough opportunity to address this directly, and enough rope to hang yourself, but you've not taken the bait.  touche'

Third, I agree that that particular statute speaks for itself.  Your explaination is interpretive and fails to address the issues I raised.

Fourth, let's address "authorize".  There are dozens of legal dictionaries and American English dictionaries, so let's start simple and pick one and see if we can agree upon a definition.  If this one does not suffice, then shoot me one that meets your desires.  Law.com defines "authorize" as "to officially empower someone ot act".  If that is the case, then I, as a "someone" have never been officially (meaning, in-writing by explicit license, permit or grant) empowered to access any public records.  Someone in the Recorders Office has been granted the authority by their County's Board of Supervisors by way of a County Resolution to act in compliance with promulgated State Code (in this case, in Arizona) to host public records online.  No further "authorization" except in the most colloquially-applied, broad sense, non-technical and non-legal use of the term, has been issued to me or to the ne xt guy or the next guy, for the purpose of accessing these records online.  The term "authorize" derives from the same linguistic root as the word "author" for a good and valid reason;  that is to say that the written word penned or "authored" by someone bearing power establishes the leave to act by another in a  real that they would not otherwise have the LEGAL capacity to enter.  I've studied the hisotry of the English language and English law for 25 years but am not a lawyer.  You've studied and got degrees.  My college work was in a different field (cultural anthropology to be precise;  not that it has any bearing on this discussion).  Anyway, you picked the fight and you play with lawyer rules, and I'll play in your sandbox by those same rules too.  I'm rather bemused by the entire discussion, actually.  Keep truckin'!