Jay, I am answering this here in answer to your question you asked me under the topic. Re: Phishing and Second Mortgages. I almost missed your question as it had scrolled off the screen. It is an important question and I hope that by moving it here, others will read it and offer their own suggestions.

You asked, I agree with you, but how do we stop it without really restricting access to "public records".

An idea could be promoting licensing in each state, that only a licensed abstractor/title company could have access to the real estate records, unless the actual property owner wants to search their own property. Any one else.

Jay

Licensing is one answer and one that I support. But there are other forms of legislation that can be enacted or simply enforced.

It is the wholesale release of the documents over the internet that I object to on a privacy and security bases. As long as access to the local public records was kept local, abuses were few and  localized.

Should there be any reason someone in Iran, Lybia, India or China should be considered a  member of the American public? Are they subject to American civil or criminal laws? Who will enforce these laws? The local sheriff has no jurisdiction, neither does the state police.


There is an interesting article in the Florida Bar Journal dated November 2004, "Electronic Access to Court Records — A Virtual Tightrope in the Making"

Quoting in part, "On the one hand, clerks, as elected public officials, have a vested interest in providing their constituents with the broadest possible access to the court records they maintain. On the other hand, clerks are presented with a statutory, and for that matter, a moral duty, to use their best efforts to minimize any possible injury to individuals during the process of carrying out their duties."

You might also find this interesting from Virginia, http://www.courtaccess.org/states/va/documents/attygen,%20authorizing%20fees.htm. "Circuit court clerk authorized to provide and charge user fee for remote access to nonconfidential court records and to establish security measures to protect confidential records has no authority to place public records-judgment liens, deeds, marriage licenses, wills and court dockets-on worldwide computer network."

Ozaukee County Wisconson protects their citizens privacy while giving limited access to the internet by blocking any search by name on the public internet site. While allowing full access to the names on an intranet available to government agencies, title companies and local business and visitors to the clerks office..
LAND INFORMATION INTERNET PRIVACY POLICY REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Some counties and states have adopted policies of allowing individuals to request all or part of their records  be removed from the internet. Other states have limited this option to legislators and law enforcement officers. Still others have reacted by declaring some public records as no longer public and only accessible by the government. 

I wonder what would have happened if any of these entities had gone to the public they are sworn to serve and asked if they minded if they published their bank account numbers, home addresses, and financial information over the internet for anyone, anywhere to see at the click of a mouse?