We have met the enemy and it is public records.

At least according to Betty "BJ" Ostergren, that is. Betty, described in The Washington Post as "a feisty 56-year old" based near Richmond, is seeking to shame public figures into addressing what she sees as the all-too-ready access to public records enabled by commercial database, internet and document imaging technologies.

Encapsulating her fears in one favorite example, Betty lays it all out for Post's resident identity-theft reporter, Jonathan Krim:

"Don't you think if I can get Tom DeLay's Social Security number ... that some guy in an Internet cafe in Pakistan can, too?" she asks, her voice rising with indignation. "It's just ridiculous what we're doing in this country."

Utilizing such arguments, Betty, under the banner of The Virginia Watchdog is attempting to organize activists to beat back the tide of easy access to public records, particularly on the local level:

A wealth of documents -- including marriage and divorce records, property deeds, and military discharge papers -- containing Social Security numbers, dates of birth and other sensitive information is accessible from any computer anywhere. Many of the online records are images of original documents, which also display people's signatures.

Ostergren began organizing citizens and harassing officials on the issue in 2002, when a title examiner called to warn her that her county was about to put a slew of documents online, including pages with her signature.

A longtime activist in local politics, Ostergren swung into action, bringing enough pressure on Hanover County officials that they halted their plans. Then she broadened her attack, targeting other counties in Virginia and elsewhere.

Betty expounds a bit further (with copious use of exclamation) on her website:

No one has to fake an identity to get into ChoicePoint, no one has to break the law/hack into any website, no one has to dumpster dive, and no one has to dig into the neighbor's trash anymore to get SSNs. No, all it takes to find SSNs is getting into a Clerk's/Recorder's/Register of Deeds' website and ANYONE can since they are public records!

The Clerks etc. are spoon feeding criminals by putting these records online - the same records they took an oath to protect!!! Every Clerk/Recorder should pull the plug on this ONLINE RECORDS mess and get them offline! It will take the legislature (thru pressure from the citizens) to make them do it though. Tell your state legislators that if someone wants to see your records, make them take off from work and drive to the courthouse!

This, unfortunately, is the histrionic end of identity theft anxiety, fostered by content-starved local news and fueled good old fashioned black-helicopters-over-Kansas American paranoia. As a nation we are really, really good at frothing up over this kind of thing, but never did The Daily Caveat think to see the day when ready access to essential public records verges on initiating a moral panic.

While TDC disagrees with Betty's approach (and her rampant abuse of exclamation points), there is a vaild point in the potential need to redact sensitive data from internet versions of certain public records. However, perhaps rather than attempting to curtail access to public records, the ready availability of which has immense social benefits (Frankly, The Daily Caveat feels that Senator Delay is might bit shifty and bears a close eye.) one could consider addressing the other factors that actually serve to make access of these details potentially threatening to the average person.

Easy Access to Credit - I am looking at YOU...

The full Washington Post piece can be found here.

And to join The Movement, click here.

-- MDT

Labels: database, identity theft